THE  BRITISH  ARMY 
FROM  WITHIN 


BY 

ONE  WHO  HAS  SERVED  IN  IT 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/britisharmyfromwOOvivirich 


THE  BRITISH  ARMY  FROM  WITHIN 


THE  BRITISH   ARMY 
FROM  WITHIN 


BY 

E.   CHARLES  VIVIAN 

AUTHOR   OF 
'PASSION   rRUIT,"    "DIVIDED    WAYS,"    ETC. 


HODDER    AND    STOUGHTON 

LONDON    NEW    YORK    TORONTO 

MCMXIV 


u\ 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   I 

PAGE 

"  Ubique  "  :    The  Army  as  a  Whole    .         .         9 


CHAPTER  II 
The  Way  of  the  Recruit    ....       25 

CHAPTER  III 
Officers  and  Non-Coms 46 

CHAPTER  IV 
Infantry ^^ 

CHAPTER  V 
Cavalry '^^ 

CHAPTER  VI 

Artillery  and  Engineers    ....       92 

7 


8  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VII 

PAGE 

In  Camp ^     ^Qg 


CHAPTER  VIII 
Musketry j2o 


CHAPTER   IX 
The  Internal  Economy  of  the  Army  .         .     136 

CHAPTER   X 
The  New  Army 158 

CHAPTER  XI 

Active  Service     .         .         .         .         .         .169 


CHAPTER    I 

"  UBIQUE  "  :    THE    ARMY   AS    A   WHOLE 

/^N  the  badges  of  the  corps  of  Engineers,  and  also 
^-^  on  those  of  the  Royal  Artillery,  will  be  found 
the  word  "  Ubique,"  but  it  is  a  word  that  might  just 
as  well  be  used  with  regard  to  the  whole  of  the 
British  Army,  which  serves  everywhere,  does  every- 
thing, undergoes  every  kind  of  climate,  and  gains 
contact  with  every  class  of  people.  In  this  respect, 
the  British  soldier  enjoys  a  distinct  advantage 
over  the  soldiers  of  continental  armies  ;  he  has  a 
chance  of  seeing  the  world.  India,  Africa,  Egypt, 
the  West  Indies,  Mauritius,  and  the  Mediterranean 
stations  are  open  to  him,  and  by  the  time  he  leaves 
the  service  he  has  at  least  had  the  opportunity  of 
becoming  cosmopolitan  in  his  tastes  and  ways — of 
becoming  a  man  of  larger  ideas  and  better  grasp 
on  the  problems  of  life  than  were  his  at  the  time 
when  he  took  the  oath  and  passed  the  doctor.  Of 
that  phase,  more  anon. 

It  is  of  little  use,  in  the  present  state  of  the 
British  Army,  to  attempt  to  define  its  extent  or 


10  "  UBIQUE  " 

coijdposition,  for  it.  is  in  such  a  state  of  flux  that 
the  numbers  of  battahons,  regiments,  and  batteries 
of  a  year  ago  are  as  obsolete  as  the  Snider  rifle. 
There  used  to  be  157  battahons  of  infantry,  31 
regiments  of  cavalry,  and  about  180  batteries 
of  horse  and  field  artillery,  together  with  about 
100  companies  and  9  mountain  batteries  of  Royal 
Garrison  Artillery,  forming  the  principal  strength 
of  the  British  Army.  To  these  must  be  added  the 
Royal  Engineers,  the  Army  Service  Corps,  the 
Royal  Ordnance  Department,  the  R.A.M.C,  the 
Army  Pay  Corps,  and  other  non-combatant  units 
necessary  to  the  domestic  and  general  internal 
working  of  an  army.  To-day  these  various  forces 
are  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  no  man  out- 
side the  War  Office  can  tell  the  strength  of  infantry, 
cavalry,  and  artillery  ;  no  man,  either,  can  tell 
what  will  be  the  permanent  strength  of  the  Army 
on  a  peace  footing,  when  the  present  urgent  need 
for  men  no  longer  exists,  and  there  is  only  to  be 
considered  the  maintenance  of  a  force  sufficient  for 
the  garrisoning  of  colonial  and  foreign  stations  and 
for  ordinary  defensive  needs  at  home. 

Generally  speaking,  the  soldier  at  home,  no 
matter  to  what  arm  or  branch  of  the  service  he 
belongs,  undergoes  a  continuous  training.  It 
takes  three  years  to  make  an  infantryman  fully 


"  UBIQUE  "  11 

efficient,  five  years  to  make  a  cavalryman  tho- 
roughly conversant  with  his  many  duties,  and 
five  years  or  more  to  teach  a  gunner  his  business. 
The  raw  material  from  which  the  Army  is  recruited 
is  mixed  and  sometimes  uneducated  stuff,  and,  in 
addition  to  this,  recruits  are  enlisted  at  an  age 
when  they  must  be  taught  everything — they  are 
past  the  age  of  the  schoolboy  who  absorbs  tuition 
readily  and  with  little  trouble  to  his  instructors, 
and  they  have  not  attained  to  such  an  age  as  will 
permit  them  to  take  their  work  really  seriously. 
This,  of  course,  does  not  apply  to  a  time  of  great 
national  emergency,  when  the  men  coming  to  the 
colours  are  actuated  by  the  highest  possible 
motives,  eager  to  fit  themselves  for  the  work  in 
hand,  and  bent  on  getting  fit  for  active  service  in  the 
shortest  possible  time.  In  times  of  peace,  recruits 
join  the  colours  from  many  motives — pure  patriot- 
ism is  not  a  common  one — and,  in  consequence, 
the  hard  realities  of  soldiering  in  peace  time 
disillusion  them  to  such  an  extent  that  they  are 
difficult  to  teach,  and  thus  need  the  full  term  of 
training  for  full  efficiency.  Half  the  work  of  their 
instructors  consists  in  getting  them  into  the 
proper  frame  of  mind  and  giving  them  that  esprit 
de  corps  which  is  essential  to  the  war  fitness  of  a 
voluntary  army. 


12  "  UBIQUE  " 

At  the  best,  there  is  much  in  the  work  that  a 
soldier  is  called  on  to  do  which  is  beyond  his  under- 
standing, in  the  first  years  of  his  service.  One 
consequence  of  this  is  that  he  learns  to  do  things 
without  questioning  their  meaning,  and  thus 
acquires  a  habit  of  obeying  ;  this,  up  to  a  few 
years  ago,  was  the  object  of  military  training — 
to  instil  into  the  soldier  unquestioning  obedience 
to  orders,  and  the  sentence — "  obedience  is  the 
first  duty  of  the  soldier,"  gained  currency  and 
labelled  the  soldier  as  a  mere  cog  in  a  great 
machine,  one  whose  duty  lay  in  obeying  as  did 
that  Roman  sentinel  at  Pompeii.  One  of  the  chief 
lessons  of  the  South  African  war,  however,  was 
that  such  obedience  was  no  longer  the  first  duty 
of  the  soldier  ;  he  must  obey,  no  less  than  before, 
but  scientific  warfare  demands  an  understanding 
obedience,  and  not  the  unquestioning,  die-at-his- 
post  fidelity  of  old  time.  The  recruit  of  to-day 
must  be  taught  not  only  to  obey,  but  to  understand, 
and  by  that  fact  the  work  of  his  instructors,  and 
his  own  work  as  well,  are  largely  increased. 
"  Obedience  "  was  the  watchword  of  yesterday. 
"  Obedience  and  initiative "  is  the  phrase  of 
to-day. 

To  come  down  to  concrete  facts  as  regards  the 
actual  composition  and  general  duties  of  the  Army. 


"UBIQUE"  13 

The  main  station  in  England  is  Aldershot,  head- 
quarters of  the  first  Army  Corps.  Theoretically, 
in  all  cases  of  national  emergency,  the  Aldershot 
Command  is  first  to  move,  and  the  units  com- 
posing it  are  expected  to  be  able  to  mobilise  for 
active  service  at  twenty-four  hours'  notice.  Next 
in  importance  are  Colchester,  Shorncliffe,  York, 
and  Bulford — the  centre  of  the  Salisbury^  Plain 
area  under  military  control.  In  Ireland  the 
principal  stations  are  Dublin  and  the  Curragh. 
In  these  stations,  under  normal  circumstances,  the 
furlough  season  begins  at  Christmas  time  and  lasts 
up  to  the  following  March  ;  for  this  period  men 
are  granted  leave  in  batches,  and  drill  and  training 
for  those  who  remain  in  barracks  while  the  others 
take  their  holidays  is  somewhat  relaxed.  Serious 
training  begins  in  March,  when  the  corporals, 
sergeants,  and  troop  and  section  officers  begin  to 
lick  their  squads,  sections,  and  troops  into  shape. 
Following  on  this  comes  company  training  for  the 
infantry,  squadron  training  for  the  cavalry,  and 
battery  training  for  the  artillery,  and  this  in  turn 
is  followed  by  battalion  training  for  infantry, 
regimental  training  for  cavalry,  and  brigade 
training  for  artillery.  Somewhere  during  the  period 
taken  up  before  the  beginning  of  regimental  and 
battalion  training,  musketry  has  to  be  fitted  in, 


14  "  UBIQUE  " 

and,  as  the  ranges  cannot  accommodate  all  the 
men  at  once,  this  has  to  be  done  by  squadrons  and 
companies,  while  those  not  engaged  in  perfecting 
their  shooting  continue  with  their  other  training. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  training  of  units — 
regiments,  battalions,  and  brigades  of  artillery — 
brigade  and  divisional  training  is  begun,  and 
then  manoeuvres  follow,  in  which  the  troops  are 
given  opportunities  of  learning  the  working  of  an 
army  corps,  as  well  as  getting  practical  experience 
of  camp  life  under  conditions  as  near  those  obtain- 
ing on  active  service  as  circumstances  will  admit. 
By  the  time  all  this  has  been  completed,  the 
furlough  season  starts  again,  and  the  round 
begins  once  more  with  a  few  more  recruits  to 
train,  a  few  old  soldiers  missing  from  the  ranks. 

In  addition  to  the  regular  course  of  training 
that  lasts  through  the  year  and  goes  on  from  year 
to  year,  there  are  various  "  courses  "  to  be  under- 
gone in  order  to  keep  the  departmental  staff  of 
each  unit  up  to  strength.  Thus,  in  the  infantry, 
signallers  must  be  specially  trained,  and  pioneers, 
who  do  all  the  sanitary  work  of  their  units,  must 
be  taught  their  duties,  while  musketry  instructors 
and  drill  instructors  have  to  be  selected  and  taught 
their  duties.  Each  unit,  except  as  regards  medical 
service  and  a  few  things  totally  out  of  its  range  of 


"UBIQUE"  15 

activity,  is  self-contained  and  self-supporting,  and 
thus  it  is  necessary  that  it  should  train  its  own 
instructors  and  its  own  special  men  for  special 
work,  together  with  understudies  to  take  their 
places  in  case  of  casualties.  The  cavalry  trains  its 
own  signallers,  scouts,  shoeing  smiths,  cooks, 
pioneers,  and  to  a  certain  extent  medical  orderlies. 
The  artillery  does  likewise,  and  in  addition  keeps 
up  a  staff  of  artificers  to  attend  to  minor  needs  of 
the  guns — men  capable  of  repairing  breakages  in 
the  field,  as  far  as  this  is  possible.  Wherever 
horses  are  concerned,  too,  saddlers  must  be  trained 
to  keep  leather  work  in  repair. 

The  Engineers,  a  body  of  men  who  seldom 
get  the  recognition  their  work  deserves,  have 
to  train  in  telegraphy,  bridge-building,  con- 
struction and  demolition  of  all  things,  from  a 
regular  defensive  fortification  to  a  field  kitchen, 
and  many  other  things  incidental  to  the  smooth 
working  of  an  army  in  the  field.  Departmental 
corps,  such  as  the  Army  Service,  Army  Ordnance, 
and  R.A.M.C.,  not  only  train  but  exercise  their 
functions  in  a  practical  way,  for  in  peace  time  an 
army  must  be  fed,  equipped,  and  doctored,  just 
the  same  as  in  war — except  that  in  the  latter  case 
its  requirements  are  more  strenuous.  The  ancient 
belief  entertained  by  civilians  to  the  effect  that 


16  "  UBIQUE  " 

the  Army  is  a  profession  of  laziness  is  thoroughly 
exploded  as  soon  as  one  passes  through  the  barrack 
gates,  for  the  Army  as  a  whole  works  as  hard  as,  if 
not  harder  than  the  average  man  in  equivalent 
stations  of  civilian  life. 

In  foreign  and  colonial  stations,  the  work  goes 
on  just  the  same,  as  far  as  limitations  of  climate 
will  permit.  In  "  plains  "  stations  in  India,  the 
heat  of  the  summer  months  renders  training 
during  the  day  impossible,  and  men  get  their  work 
over,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  very  early  morning, 
or  in  the  cool  of  the  evening.  Malta  and  Gibraltar 
are  subject  to  the  same  limitations  in  a  lesser 
degree,  as  is  South  Africa,  while  Mauritius  and 
minor  colonial  stations  have  their  own  ways.  But, 
no  matter  where  the  unit  concerned  may  be,  it 
works — fitness  is  dependent  on  work,  and  no 
unit  is  allowed  to  get  rusty,  while  the  variety 
of  work  involved  prevents  men  from  getting 
stale. 

At  the  same  time,  there  is  plenty  of  relaxation 
and  sport  as  well  as  work  in  the  routine  of  military 
life.  Set  a  battalion  down  in  a  new  station,  and 
the  chances  are  ten  to  one  that  on  the  evening  of 
their  arrival  the  men  will  be  kicking  a  football 
about.  Each  company  and  squadron,  and  each 
battery  of  artillery  as  well,  has  its  own  sports  fund 


"  UBIQUE  "  17 

and  sports  club,  which  keeps  going  the  national 
games  in  the  unit  concerned.  Men  work  hard  and 
play  hard,  and  their  play  is  made  to  help  their 
work.  Infantry  units  organise  cross-country  races 
which  help  enormously  in  maintaining  the  men  in 
fit  marching  condition ;  cavalry  units  get  up 
scouting  competitions  and  other  sporting  fixtures 
based  on  work — to  say  nothing  of  tent  pegging, 
lemon  cutting,  and  other  forms  of  military  sport 
of  which  the  Royal  Military  Tournament  annually 
affords  examples,  while  shooting  ranges  form  fields 
for  weekly  competitions  at  such  times  as  they  are 
not  in  use  for  annual  musketry  courses. 

The  actual  composition  of  the  various  units 
composing  the  British  Army  differs  from  that  of 
continental  armies,  the  only  units  of  strength 
which  are  identical  being  those  of  the  army  corps, 
and  the  division,  which  is  half  an  army  corps. 
The  next  unit  in  the  scale  is  the  brigade,  which  is 
composed  of  three  batteries  of  field  or  two  of  horse 
artillery,  three  regiments  of  cavalry,  or  four  bat- 
talions of  infantry.  A  division  is  made  up  of 
brigades,  which  vary  in  number  and  composition 
according  to  the  work  which  that  particular 
division  will  be  expected  to  accomplish — there  is 
a  standard  for  the  composition  of  the  division,  but 
changes  now  in  process  of  taking  place  in  the  com- 


18  "  UBIQUE  " 

position  of  the  whole  army  render  it  unsafe  to  quote 
any  standard  as  definite.  A  normal  division,  cer- 
tainly, is  composed  of  cavalry,  artillery,  and 
infantry  in  certain  strengths,  together  with  non- 
combatants  and  supply  units  making  up  its  total 
strength  to  anywhere  between  20,000  and  30,000 
men. 

The  unit  of  strength  in  which  figures  become 
definite  is  the  brigade  of  artillery,  the  regiment  of 
cavalry,  and  the  battalion  of  infantry.  The  peace 
strength  of  each  of  these  units  may  be  regarded, 
as  a  rule,  as  from  10  to  20  per  cent,  over  the  war 
strength,  and  the  war  strength  is  as  follows  : 

For  cavalry,  a  regiment  consists  of  about  620 
officers  and  men  of  all  ranks  ;  this  body  is  divided 
into  three  service  squadrons,  each  of  an  approxi- 
mate strength  of  160  officers,  non-commissioned 
officers,  and  men,  the  remainder  of  the  strength  of 
the  unit  forming  the  "  reserve  squadron,"  devoted 
to  the  headquarters  staff — the  commanding  officer 
and  administrative  staff  of  the  regiment,  as  well  as 
the  "  pom-pom "  or  one-pounder  quick-firer,  of 
which  one  is  included  in  the  establishment  of  every 
cavalry  regiment.  In  this  connection  it  is  probable 
that  the  experiences  of  the  present  European  war 
will  lead  to  the  adoption  of  a  greater  number  of 
these    quick-firers,    and    in    future    each    cavalry 


"  UBIQUE  "  19 

regiment  will  probably  have  at  least  two  "  pom- 
poms "  as  part  of  its  regular  equipment.  The 
possession  of  these,  of  course,  involves  the  training 
of  a  gun  crew  for  each  weapon — a  full  complement 
of  gunners  and  drivers. 

For  artillery,  a  brigade  is  divided  into  three 
batteries,  each  of  an  approximate  strength  of  150 
men  and  six  guns  (the  artillery  battery  corresponds 
to  the  cavalry  squadron  and  to  the  infantry 
company)  and,  in  addition,  one  ammunition 
column,  together  with  transport  and  auxiliary 
staff,  making  up  a  total  of  about  600  officers, 
non-commissioned  officers,  and  men.  This  refers 
to  the  field  artillery,  which  forms  the  bulk  of  the 
British  artillery  strength,  and  is  armed  with 
18|-pounder  quick-firing  guns.  The  Royal  Horse 
Artillery  is  armed  with  a  lighter  gun,  and  is  used 
mainly  as  support  to  cavalry  in  single  batteries. 
It  is  so  constituted  as  to  be  more  mobile  and 
capable  of  rendering  quicker  service  than  the 
R.F.A.  Horse  artillery  is  hardly  ever  constituted 
into  brigades,  as  is  the  field  artillery.  Horse 
artillery,  again,  has  no  counterpart  in  the  armies 
of  Continental  nations,  so  far  as  mobility  and 
quality  of  armament  are  in  question. 

Infantry  reckons  its  numbers  by  battalions,  of 
which   the   war   strength   is   approximately   1010 


20  "  UBIQUE  " 

officers,  non-commissioned  officers,  and  men  per 
battalion.  Each  battalion  is  divided  into  four 
double  companies,  the  "  double-company  system  " 
having  been  adopted  in  order  to  compensate  for 
a  certain  shortage  of  officers.  The  double  company 
may  be  reckoned  at  240  officers,  non-commissioned 
officers,  and  men,  roughly,  and  the  remainder  of 
the  total  is  taken  up  by  two  maxim-gun  sections 
and  the  headquarters  staff  of  the  unit.  As  in  the 
case  of  the  cavalry  "  pom-pom,"  it  is  more  than 
likely  that  the  number  of  maxims  or  machine-guns 
per  battalion  will  be  increased,  as  a  result  of  the 
experiences  gained  in  the  present  Continental  war. 

Engineers  and  departmental  units  are  divided 
into  companies  of  varying  strengths,  according  to 
the  part  they  are  called  on  to  play  when  the  division 
is  constituted.  Thus  it  is  self-evident  that  an 
average  division  will  require  more  Engineers,  who 
do  all  the  field  work  of  construction  and  demoli- 
tion, than  it  will  Army  Ordnance  men,  who 
attend  to  the  equipment  of  the  division — fitting 
out  with  clothing,  provision  of  transport  vehicles, 
etc.  The  number  of  men  of  departmental  corps 
allotted  to  each  division  in  the  field  varies  with  the 
strength  of  the  division  and  with  its  distance  from 
its  base  of  supplies. 

There  is  a  permanent  and  outstanding  difference 


"  UBIQUE  "  21 

between  the  British  Army  as  a  whole  and  any  Con- 
tinental army  as  a  whole.  In  the  case  of  the  Con- 
tinental army — no  matter  which  one  is  chosen  for 
purposes  of  comparison,  the  conscript  system 
renders  it  a  part  of  the  nation  concerned,  identifies 
the  army  with  the  nation,  and  incidentally  takes 
out  the  element  of  freedom.  A  man  in  a  conscript 
army  is  serving  because  he  must,  and,  no  matter 
how  patriotic  he  may  be,  there  are  times  when  this 
is  brought  home  to  him  very  forcibly  by  the  dis- 
cipline without  which  no  army  could  exist.  In  the 
British  Army,  on  the  other  hand,  the  men  serving 
are  there  by  their  own  choice  ;  this  fact  gives  them 
a  sense  that  the  discipline,  no  matter  how  distaste- 
ful it  may  be,  is  a  necessity  to  their  training — by 
their  enlistment  they  chose  to  undergo  it.  But  the 
British  Army,  until  the  present  war  linked  it  on 
to  the  man  in  the  street,  was  not  a  part  of  the  nation, 
but  a  thing  distinct  from  the  nation  ;  it  was  a  pro- 
fession apart,  and  none  too  enviable  a  profession, 
in  the  opinion  of  many,  but  something  to  be  avoided 
by  men  in  equivalent  walks  of  civilian  life. 

There  are  advantages  as  well  as  disadvantages 
in  the  voluntary  system  by  which  our  Army  is 
raised  and  maintained.  As  an  advantage  may  be 
set  first  the  spirit  of  the  men  ;  having  enlisted 
voluntarily,   and  ascertained  by  experience  that 


22  "  UBIQUE  " 

they  must  make  the  best  of  it  or  be  considered 
utterly  worthless,  men  in  a  voluntary  army  gain  a 
spirit  that  conscripts  can  never  attain.  They  are 
soldiers  of  their,-  own  free  will,  with  regimental 
traditions  to  maintain,  and  practice  has  demon- 
strated that  they  form  the  finest  fighting  body,  as 
a  whole,  among  all  the  armies  of  the  world.  On 
the  other  hand,  they  have  no  political  significance, 
and  are  but  little  understood,  as  regards  their 
needs  and  the  constitution  of  the  force  to  which 
they  belong.  In  France,  for  instance,  the  rule  is 
"  every  citizen  a  soldier,"  and  it  is  a  rule  which  is 
observed  with  but  very  few  exceptions.  The 
result  is  that  every  citizen  who  has  been  a  soldier 
is  also  a  voter,  and  in  the  matter  of  army  require- 
ments he  votes  in  an  understanding  way,  while  the 
British  voter,  with  the  exception  of  the  small  per- 
centage who  have  served  in  the  Army,  is  as  a  rule 
unmoved  by  Army  needs  and  questions.  To  this 
extent  the  Army  suffers  from  the  voluntary  system, 
though  the  quality  of  the  Army  itself  under  present 
voluntary  conditions  may  be  held  to  compensate 
for  this.  It  is  doubtful  whether  it  does  compensate. 
Further,  the  voluntary  system  makes  of  life  in 
the  ranks  a  totally  different  thing  from  civilian 
life.  In  conscript  armies  the  discipline  to  which  men 
are  subjected  makes  their  life  different  from  that  of 


"  UBIQUE  "  28 

their  civilian  days,  but  not  to  such  an  extent  as  in 
the  voluntary  British  Army.  The  civilian  can 
never  quite  understand  the  soldier  ;  Kipling  came 
nearer  than  any  other  civilian  in  his  understanding, 
but  even  he  failed  altogether  to  appreciate  the 
soldier  of  to-day — perhaps  he  had  a  better  under- 
standing of  the  soldier  of  the  'eighties  and  'nineties, 
before  the  South  African  war  had  come  to  awaken 
the  Army  to  the  need  for  individual  training  and 
the  development  of  initiative. '  However  that  may 
be,  no  man  has  yet  written  of  the  soldier  as  he  really 
is,  because  the  task  has  been  usually  attempted  by 
civilians,  to  whom  the  soldier  rarely  shows  his  real 
self.  Soldiers  have  themselves  given  us  glimpses  of 
their  real  life,  but  usually  they  have  specialised  on 
the  dramatic  and  the  picturesque.  It  is  necessary,  if 
one  would  understand  the  soldier  and  his  inner  life, 
that  one  should  have  a  grasp  of  the  monotony  of 
soldiering,  the  drill  and  riding  school,  the  barrack- 
room  routine,  and  all  that  makes  up  the  daily  life, 
as  well  as  the  exceptional  and  picturesque. 

In  the  following  chapters,  showing  as  far  as 
possible  the  inner  life  of  the  Army  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  soldier,  an  attempt  has  been  made 
to  show  the  average  of  life  in  each  branch  of  the 
service.  Exceptions  occur :  the  quality  of  the 
commanding  officer  makes  all  the  difference  in  the 


24  "  UBIQUE  " 

life  of  the  unit  which  he  commands  ;  again,  apart 
from  the  influence  exercised  by  the  personaHty  of 
the  commanding  officer,  that  of  the  company  or 
squadron  officer  is  a  very  potent  factor  in  the  hves 
of  the  men  under  his  command.  The  British 
Army,  fine  fighting  machine  though  it  is,  is  not 
perfect,  and  there  are  instances  of  bad  commanding 
officers,  bad  squadron  and  company  officers,  just 
as  there  are  instances  of  superlatively  good  ones. 
Between  these  is  the  influence  exerted  by  the  mass 
on  the  mass,  from  which  an  average  picture  may 
be  drawn. 

That  picture  is  the  portrait  of  the  British  soldier, 
second  to  none. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE    WAY    OF   THE    RECRUIT 

THE  way  of  the  recruit,  though  still  a  hard  one, 
is  not  so  hard  as  it  used  to  be,  for,  especially 
in  the  cavalry  and  artillery,  various  modifications 
have  been  introduced  by  which  the  youngster  is 
broken  in  gradually  to  his  work.  This  is  not  all  to 
the  good,  for  under  the  new  way  of  working  the 
training  which  precedes  "  dismissal  "  from  recruit's 
training  to  the  standing  of  a  trained  soldier  takes 
longer,  and,  submitting  the  recruit  to  a  less  strenu- 
ous form  of  life  for  the  period  through  which  it  lasts, 
does  not  produce  quite  so  handy  and  quick  a  man 
as  the  one  who  was  kept  at  it  from  dawn  till  dark, 
with  liberty  at  the  end  of  his  official  day's  work  to 
clean  up  equipment  for  the  next  day.  Still,  the 
annual  training  of  the  "  dismissed  "  soldier  is  a 
more  strenuous  business  now  than  in  old  time,  so 
probably  the  final  result  is  about  the  same. 

The  recruit's  first  requirements,  after  he  has 
interviewed  the  recruiting  sergeant  on  the  subject 
of  enlistment  is  to  take  the  oath — a  very  quick  and 

25 


26        THE    WAY    OF   THE    RECRUIT 

simple  matter — and  then  to  pass  the  doctor,  which 
is  not  so  simple.  The  recruit  is  stripped,  sounded, 
tested  for  full  physical  efficiency,  and  made  to  pass 
tests  in  eyesight  and  breathing  which,  if  he  emerges 
satisfactorily,  proclaim  him  as  near  physical  per- 
fection as  humanity  can  get  without  a  course  of 
physical  culture — and  that  course  is  administered 
during  his  first  year  of  service.  Kept  under  the  wing 
of  the  recruiting  sergeant  for  a  matter  of  hours 
or  days,  as  the  case  may  be,  the  recruit  is  at  last 
drafted  off  to  his  depot,  or  direct  to  his  unit,  where 
his  real  training  begins  in  earnest. 

We  may  take  the  case  of  a  recruit  who  had  en- 
listed from  mixed  motives,  arrived  at  a  station 
whence  he  had  to  make  his  way  to  barracks  in  the 
evening,  in  order  to  begin  his  new  life  ;  here  are 
his  impressions  of  beginning  life  in  the  Army. 

He  went  up  a  hill,  and  along  a  muddy  lane,  and, 
arriving  at  the  barracks,  inquired,  as  he  had  been 
told  to  do,  for  the  quartermaster-sergeant  of  "  C  " 
Squadron.  He  was  directed  to  the  quartermaster- 
sergeant's  office,  and,  on  arrival  there,  was  asked 
his  name  and  the  nature  of  his  business  by  a  young 
corporal  who  took  life  as  a  joke  and  regarded 
recruits  as  a  special  form  of  food  for  amusement. 
Having  ascertained  the  name  of  the  recruit,  the 
corporal,  who  was  a  kindly  fellow  at  heart,  took 


THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT         27 

him  down  to  the  regimental  coffee  bar  and  provided 
him  with  a  meal  of  cold  meat,  bread,  and  coffee — 
at  the  squadron's  expense,  of  course,  for  the  pro- 
vision of  the  meal  was  a  matter  of  duty.  The 
corporal  then  indicated  the  room  in  which  the 
recruit  was  to  sleep,  and  left  him. 

The  recruit  opened  the  door  of  the  room,  and 
looked  in.  It  was  a  long  room,  with  a  row  of  narrow 
beds  down  each  side,  and  in  the  middle  two  tables 
on  iron  trestles,  whereon  were  several  basins.  On 
almost  every  bed  sat  a  man,  busily  engaged  in 
cleaning  some  article  of  clothing  or  equipment ; 
some  were  cleaning  buttons,  some  were  pipeclaying 
belts,  some  were  engaged  with  sword-hilts  and 
brick-dust,  some  were  cleaning  boots — all  were 
cleaning  up  as  if  their  lives  depended  on  it,  for 
"  lights  out  "  would  be  sounded  at  a  quarter-past 
ten,  and  it  was  already  past  nine  o'clock.  When 
they  saw  the  recruit,  they  gave  him  greeting. 
"  Here's  another  one  !  "  they  cried.  "  Here's 
another  victim  !  "  and  other  phrases  which  led  this 
particular  recruit  to  think,  quite  erroneously,  that 
he  had  come  to  something  very  bad  indeed.  Two 
or  three  were  singing,  with  more  noise  than  melody,  a 
song  which  was  very  old  when  Queen  Anne  died — it 
was  one  of  the  ditties  of  the  regiment,  sung  by  its 
men  on  all  possible  and  most  impossible  occasions. 


28         THE    WAY    OF   THE    RECRUIT 

One  man  shouted  to  the  recruit  that  he  had 
"  better  flap  before  he  drew  his  issue,"  and  that 
he  could  not  understand  at  all.  Translated  into 
civilian  language,  it  meant  that  he  had  better 
desert  before  he  exchanged  his  civilian  clothing 
for  regimental  attire,  but  this  he  learned  later. 
They  seemed  a  jolly  crowd,  very  fond  of  flavouring 
their  language  with  words  which,  in  civilian  esti- 
mation, were  terms  of  abuse,  but  passed  as  common 
currency  here. 

The  recruit  stood  wondering — out  of  all  these 
beds,  there  seemed  to  be  no  bed  for  him.  After  a 
minute  or  two,  however,  the  corporal  in  charge  of 
the  room  came  up  to  him,  and  pointed  out  to  him 
a  bed  in  one  corner  of  the  room  ;  its  usual  occupant 
was  on  guard  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  the 
recruit  was  informed  that  he  could  occupy  that 
bed  for  the  night.  In  the  morning  he  could  go  to 
the  quartermaster's  store  and  draw  blankets,  sheets, 
a  pillow,  and  "biscuits"  for  his  own  use.  After 
that,  he  would  be  allotted  a  bed-cot  to  himself. 
Biscuits,  it  must  be  explained,  are  square  mat- 
tresses of  coir,  of  which  three,  placed  end  to  end, 
form  a  full-sized  mattress  for  a  military  bed- 
cot. 

Sitting  on  the  borrowed  bed-cot,  the  recruit  was 
able  to  take  a  good  look  round.    The  ways  of  these 


THE    WAY    OF   THE    RECRUIT         29 

men,  theif  quickness  in  cleaning  and  polishing 
articles  of  equipment,  were  worth  watching,  he 
decided.  They  joked  and  chaffed  each  other,  they 
sang  scraps  of  songs,  allegedly  pathetic  and 
allegedly  humorous  ;  they  shouted  from  one  end 
of  the  room  to  the  other  in  order  to  carry  on 
conversations ;  they  called  the  Army  names,  they 
called  each  other  names,  and  they  called  individuals 
who  were  evidently  absent  yet  more  names,  none 
of  them  complimentary.  They  made  a  lot  of  noise, 
and  in  that  noise  one  of  them,  having  finished  his 
cleaning,  slept ;  when  he  snored,  one  of  his 
comrades  threw  a  boot  at  him,  and,  since  the 
boot  hit  him,  he  woke  up  and  looked  round,  but 
in  vain.  Therefore  he  calmly  went  to  sleep  again, 
but  this  time  he  did  not  snore.  The  recruit,  who 
had  come  out  of  an  ordinary  civilian  home,  and 
hitherto  had  had  only  the  vaguest  of  notions  as 
to  what  the  Army  was  really  like,  wondered  if  he 
were  dreaming,  and  then  realised  that  he  himself 
was  one  of  these  men,  since  he  had  voluntarily 
given  up  certain  years  of  his  life  to  their  business. 
With  that  reflection  he  undressed  and  got  into 
bed.  After  "  lights-out  "  had  sounded  and  been 
promptly  obeyed,  he  went  to  sleep.  .  .  . 

His  impressions  are  typical,  and  his  introduction 
to  the  barrack-room  may  serve  to  record  the  view 


30         THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT 

gained  by  the  majority  of  those  who  enHst :  that 
first  gHmpse  of  mihtary  Ufe  is  something  utterly 
strange  and  incomprehensible,  and  the  recruit 
sleeps  his  first  night  in  barracks — or  stays  awake — 
bewildered  by  the  novelty  of  his  surroundings, 
and  a  little  afraid. 

In  a  few  days  the  recruit  begins  to  feel  a  little 
more  at  home  in  his  new  surroundings.  One  of  his 
first  ordeals  is  that  of  being  fitted  with  clothing, 
and  with  few  exceptions,  all  his  clothing  is  ready- 
made,  for  the  quartermaster's  store  of  a  unit  con- 
tains a  variety  of  sizes  and  fittings  of  every  article 
required,  and  from  among  these  a  man  must  be 
fitted  out  from  head  to  foot.  The  regimental 
master-tailor  attends  at  the  clothes'  fitting,  and 
makes  notes  of  alterations  required — shortening 
or  lengthening  sleeves,  letting  out  here,  and  taking 
in  there.  When  clothes  and  boots  have  been  fitted, 
the  recruit  is  issued  a  "  small  kit,"  consisting 
of  brushes  and  cleaning  materials  for  himself  and 
his  clothes  and  equipment,  even  unto  a  tooth- 
brush and  a  comb.  As  a  rule,  he  omits  the  cere- 
mony of  locking  these  things  away  in  his  box  when 
he  returns  to  the  barrack-room,  with  the  result 
that  most  of  them  are  missing  when  he  looks  on 
the  shelf  or  in  the  box  where  he  placed  them.  For, 
in  a  barrack-room,   although  all  things  are  not 


THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT         31 

common,  the  property  of  the  recruit  is  fair  game, 
and  he  catches  who  can. 

Gradually,  as  the  recruit  learns  the  need  for 
taking  care  of  such  property  as  he  wishes  to 
retain,  he  also  learns  barrack-room  slang  and 
phrasing.  In  the  Army,  one  is  never  late  :  one  is 
"  pushed."  One  does  not  eat,  but  one  "  scoffs." 
A  man  who  dodges  work  is  said  to  "  swing  the 
lead,"  and  there  is  no  such  thing  as  work,  for  it  is 
"  graft,"  or  "  kom."  Practically  every  man,  too, 
has  his  nickname  :  all  Clarkes  are  "  Nobby,"  all 
Palmers  are  "  Pedlar,"  all  Welshmen  in  other 
than  Welsh  regiments  are  "  Taffy,"  all  Robinsons 
are  "  Jack,"  and  every  surname  in  like  fashion  has 
its  regular  nickname.  But,  contrary  to  the  belief 
entertained  by  the  average  civilian,  the  soldier 
does  not  readily  take  to  nicknames  for  his  superiors. 
For  his  own  officers  he  sometimes  finds  equivalents 
to  their  names  through  their  personal  peculiarities, 
but  if  one  spoke  to  a  soldier  of  "  K.  of  K.,"  the 
soldier  would  request  an  explanation,  while  "  Bobs" 
for  Lord  Roberts  might  be  understood,  but  would 
not  be  appreciated.  The  general  officer  and  the 
superior  worthy  of  respect  gets  his  full  title  from 
the  soldier  at  all  times,  and  nicknames,  except  for 
comrades  of  the  same  company  or  squadron,  form 
a  mark  of  contempt,  especially  when  applied  to 


32         THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT 

commissioned  officers.  Sometimes  the  soldier  finds 
a  nickname  for  a  comrade  out  of  a  personal  pecu- 
liarity, as  when  one  is  particularly  mean  he  gets 
the  name  of  "  Shonk,"  or  "  Shonkie,"  which  is 
equivalent  to  "  Jew,"  with  a  reference  to  usury 
and  extortion. 

If  a  regimental  officer  gets  a  nickname,  it  may 
be  generally  assumed  that  he  is  not  held  in  very 
great  respect  by  his  men.  "  Bulgy,"  of  whom 
more  anon,  was  a  very  fat  young  lieutenant  with 
more  bulk  than  brains  ;  "  Duffer  "  was  another 
lieutenant,  and  his  title  explains  itself — it  was 
always  used  in  conjunction  with  his  surname ; 
"  Bouncer  "  was  a  major  who  had  attained  his 
rank  by  accident,  and  left  the  service  because  he 
knew  it  was  hopeless  to  anticipate  further  promo- 
tion. The  officer  who  commands  the  respect  of 
his  men  does  not  get  nicknamed,  and  the  recruit 
very  soon  learns  to  call  his  superiors  by  their 
proper  names  when  he  has  occasion  to  mention 
superior  officers  in  course  of  conversation  with  his 
comrades. 

As  a  rule,  the  recruit  is  subjected  to  one  or  more 
practical  jokes  by  his  comrades  in  his  early  days 
as  a  soldier.  In  cavalry  regiments,  a  favourite 
form  of  joke  is  to  get  the  recruit  to  go  to  the 
farrier-major  for  his  "  shoeing-money,"  a  mythical 


THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT         33 

allowance  which,  it  is  alleged,  every  recruit  receives 
at  the  beginning  of  his  service.  The  pretext  might 
appear  a  bit  thin  if  only  one  man  were  concerned 
in  the  deception,  but  the  recruit  is  assured  by  a 
whole  barrack-roomful  of  soldiers  that  "  it's  a 
fact,  and  no  hank,"  and  in  about  five  cases  out  of 
ten  he  goes  to  the  farrier-major,  who,  entering  into 
the  spirit  of  the  thing,  sends  the  victim  in  to  the 
orderly-room  sergeant  or  the  provost-sergeant,  and 
from  here  the  recruit  goes  to  the  next  official 
chosen,  until  he  finds  out  the  hoax.  If  a  non- 
commissioned officer  can  be  found  with  the  same 
sense  of  humour  as  induced  the  shoeing-money 
hoax,  he — usually  a  lance-corporal — orders  the 
recruit  to  go  to  the  sergeant-major  or  some  other 
highly  placed  non-com.  for  "  the  key  of  the  square." 
As  a  rule,  this  request  from  the  recruit  provokes  the 
sergeant-major  to  wrath,  and  the  poor  recruit  gets 
a  hot  time.  There  is  a  legend  of  a  recruit  having 
been  sent  to  the  quartermaster's  store  to  get  his 
mouth  measured  for  a  spoon,  but  it  may  be 
regarded  as  legend  pure  and  simple,  for  there  are 
limits  to  the  credulity,  even,  of  recruits,  though 
authenticated  instances  of  hoaxes  which  have 
been  practised  show  that  much  may  be  done  by 
means  of  an  earnest  manner  and  the  thorough 
preservation  of  gravity  in  giving  recommendations 


84        THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT 

to  the  victim.  Many  a  man  has  gone  to  the 
armom^er  to  get  his  spurs  fitted,  and  probably  more 
will  go  yet. 

If  a  civilian  takes  a  thorough  dislike  to  his  work, 
he  has  always  the  opportunity  of  quitting  it ;  if  he 
fails  to  satisfy  his  employers,  he  is  either  warned 
or  dismissed.  In  the  Army,  the  man  who  dis- 
likes his  work  has  to  pocket  the  dislike  and  go 
on  with  the  work,  while  if  his  employers,  the 
regimental  authorities,  have  any  fault  to  find  with 
him,  they  do  not  express  it  by  dismissal  until 
various  forms  and  quantities  of  punishment  for 
slackness  have  been  resorted  to.  The  recruit  gets 
far  more  punishments  than  the  old  soldier,  for  the 
latter  has  learned  what  to  do  and  what  to  avoid, 
in  order  to  make  life  simple  for  himself ;  his 
punishments  usually  arise  out  of  looking  on  the 
beer  when  it  is  brown  to  an  extent  incompatible 
with  the  fulfilment  of  his  duties,  and,  when  sober, 
he  generally  manages  to  evade  "  office  "  and  its 
results.  But  the  recruit  finds  that  the  corporal  in 
charge  of  his  room,  the  drill  instructor  in  charge  of 
him  at  drill,  the  sergeant  in  charge  of  his  section 
or  troop,  the  non-commissioned  officer  under 
whose  supervision  he  does  his  fatigues,  and  a  host 
of  other  superiors,  are  all  capable  of  either  placing 
him  in  the  guard-room  to  await  trial  or  of  informing 


THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT         35 

him  that  he  is  under  open  arrest,  and  equally 
liable  for  trial — and  this  for  offences  which  would 
not  count  as  such  in  civilian  life,  for  three-quarters 
of  the  military  "  crimes  "  are  not  crimes  at  all  in  the 
civil  code.  Being  late  on  parade,  a  dirty  button — 
that  is,  a  button  not  sufficiently  brilliant  in  its 
polish — the  need  of  a  shave,  a  hasty  word  to  one 
in  authority,  and  half  a  hundred  other  apparent 
trivialities,  form  grounds  for  "wheeling  a  man 
up"  or  "running  him  in."  And  the  guard-room 
to  which  he  retires  is  the  "  clink,"  while,  if  he 
is  so  persistent  in  the  commission  of  offences 
as  to  merit  detention,  the  military  form  of  im- 
prisonment, he  is  said  to  go  to  the  "glass  house" 
— that  is,  he  is  sent  to  the  detention  barracks 
for  the  term  to  which  he  is  sentenced — and  his 
punishment  is  spoken  of  as  "  cells,"  and  never 
anything  else.  A  minor  form  of  punishment, 
"confined  to  barracks,"  or  "  defaulters',"  involves 
the  doing  of  the  regiment's  dirty  work  in  the  few 
hours  usually  devoted  to  relaxation,  with  drill  in 
full  marching  order  for  an  hour  every  night,  and 
answering  one's  name  at  the  guard -room  at  stated 
intervals  throughout  the  afternoon  and  evening, 
in  order  to  prevent  the  delinquent  from  leaving 
barracks.  This  the  soldier  calls  "  doing  jankers," 
and  the  bugle  or  trumpet  call  which  orders  him  out 


36         THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT 

on  the  defaulters'  parade  is  known  as  "  Paddy 
Doyle " — heaven  only  knows  for  what  reason, 
unless  one  Paddy  Doyle  was  a  notorious  offender 
against  military  discipline  in  far-back  times,  and 
his  reputation  has  survived  his  personal  character- 
istics in  the  memory  of  the  soldier. 

The  accused,  whoever  he  may  be,  is  paraded 
first  before  his  company,  squadron,  or  battery 
officer,  and  the  charge  against  him  is  read  out. 
First  evidence  is  taken  from  the  superior  officer 
who  makes  the  charge,  and  second  evidence  from 
anyone  who  may  have  been  witness  to  the 
occurrence  which  has  caused  the  trouble.  Then 
the  accused  is  asked  what  he  has  to  say  in  mitiga- 
tion of  his  offence,  and  if  he  is  wise,  unless  the 
accusation  is  very  unjust  indeed,  he  answers — 
"  Nothing,  sir."  Then,  if  the  case  is  a  minor  one, 
the  company  or  squadron  or  battery  officer 
delivers  sentence.  If,  however,  the  crime  is  one 
meriting  a  punishment  exceeding  "  seven  days  con- 
fined to  barracks,"  the  case  is  beyond  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  junior  officer,  and  must  be  sent  to  the 
officer  commanding  the  regiment  or  battalion  or 
artillery  brigade  for  trial.  In  that  case,  the  offender 
is  paraded  with  an  escort  of  a  non-commissioned 
officer  and  man,  and  marched  on  to  the  verandah 
of  the  regimental  orderly  room  when   "  office " 


THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT         37 

sounds — almost  always  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  When  the  colonel  commanding  the 
unit — or,  in  case  of  his  absence,  his  deputy — 
decrees,  the  offender  is  marched  into  the  presence 
of  his  judge  ;  the  adjutant  of  the  regiment  reads 
the  charge,  the  evidence  is  stated  as  in  the  case  of 
trial  by  a  company  or  squadron  officer,  and  the 
colonel  pronounces  his  verdict. 

Acquittals  are  rare  ;  not  that  there  is  any  in- 
justice, but  it  is  assumed,  and  usually  with  good 
reason,  that  if  a  man  is  "  wheeled  up  "  he  has  been 
doing  something  he  ought  not  to  have  done.  Then, 
too,  the  soldier's  explanations  of  how  he  came 
to  get  into  trouble  are  far  too  plausible  ;  officers 
with  experience  of  the  soldier  and  his  ways  come 
to  understand  that  he  can  explain  away  anything 
and  find  an  excuse  for  everything.  It  is  safe,  in  the 
majority  of  cases,  to  take  a  harsh  view.  However, 
the  punishments  inflicted  are,  in  the  majority  of 
cases,  light :  "  jankers,"  though  uncomfortable, 
is  not  degrading  to  any  great  extent,  and  the  man 
who  has  had  a  taste  or  two  of  this  wholesome 
corrective  will  usually  be  a  more  careful  if  not  a 
better  soldier  in  future. 

"  Cells  "  is  a  different  matter.  Not  that  it  lowers 
a  man  to  any  extent  in  the  estimation  of  his 
comrades,  but  it  is  a  painful  experience,  practi- 


88  THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT 

cally  corresponding  to  the  imprisonment  with  hard 
labom*  to  which  a  civihan  misdemeanant  is  sub- 
jected. It  involves  also  total  loss  of  pay  from  the 
time  of  arrest  to  the  end  of  the  period  of  punish- 
ment, while  confinement  to  barracks  involves  only 
the  actual  punishment,  and,  unless  the  crime  is 
"  absence,"  there  is  no  loss  of  pay.  Drunkenness  is 
punished  by  an  officially  graded  system  of  fines,  as 
well  as  by  "  jankers  "  or  "  cells." 

The  average  man,  however,  performs  work  of 
average  quality,  avoids  drunkenness,  and  keeps  to 
time,  the  result  being  that  he  does  not  undergo 
punishment.  Barrack-room  life,  for  the  recruit,  is 
a  fairly  simple  matter.  He  makes  his  own  bed, 
and  sweeps  the  floor  round  it.  He  folds  his  blankets 
and  sheets  to  the  prescribed  pattern  ;  the  way 
in  which  he  folds  his  kit  and  clothing,  also,  is 
regulated  for  him  by  the  company  or  squadron 
authorities,  and,  for  the  rest,  he  is  kept  too  busy 
throughout  the  day  at  drill,  and  too  busy  through- 
out the  evening  in  preparing  for  the  next  day's 
drill,  to  get  into  mischief  to  any  appreciable 
extent.  The  recruit  who  involves  himself  in 
"  crime "  is,  more  often  than  not,  looking  for 
trouble. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  a  full  day's  work 
for  the  recruit  is  a  strenuous   business.     If  we 


THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT         39 

take  the  average  day  of  a  recruit  in,  say,  a  cavalry 
regiment,  and  follow  him  from  reveille  to  "  lights 
out,"  it  will  be  seen  that  he  is  kept  quite  sufficiently 
busy. 

Reveille  sounds  anywhere  between  4.30  and 
6.30  a.m.,  according  to  the  season  of  the  year,  and, 
before  the  sound  of  the  trumpet  has  ceased  the 
corporal  in  charge  of  the  room  will  be  heard  in- 
viting his  men  to  "  Show  a  leg,  there  ! "  The 
invitation  is  promptly  complied  with,  for  in  a  space 
of  fifteen  minutes  all  the  men  in  the  room  have  to 
dress,  wash  if  they  feel  inclined  to,  and  get  out  on 
early  morning  stable  parade  to  answer  their  names. 
They  are  then  marched  down  to  stables,  where  they 
turn  out  the  stable  bedding  and  groom  their  horses 
for  about  an  hour.  The  horses  are  then  taken  out 
to  water,  returned  to  stables,  and  fed,  and  the 
men  file  back  to  their  rooms  to  get  breakfast  and 
prepare  for  the  morning's  drill.  This  latter  in- 
volves a  complete  change  of  clothing  from  the 
rough  canvas  stable  outfit  to  clean  service  dress 
and  putties  for  riding  -  school  use.  The  riding- 
school  lesson  is  usually  over  by  half-past  ten,  and 
after  this  the  recruit  takes  his  horse  back  to  the 
stables,  off-saddles,  and  returns  to  the  barrack- 
room  to  change  into  canvas  clothing  once  more, 
and  enjoy  the  ten  minutes,  more  or  h^%  of  relaxa- 


40         THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT 

tion  that  falls  to  him  before  the  trumpeter  sounds 
"  stables."  Going  to  stables  again,  the  men 
groom  their  horses,  and  when  these  have  been 
passed  as  clean  by  the  troop  sergeant  or  troop 
officer  the  troopers  set  to  work  and  clean 
steel  work  and  leather.  The  way  in  which  this  is 
done  in  the  Army  may  be  judged  from  the  fact 
that,  after  a  morning's  parade,  it  takes  a  full  hour 
to  clean  saddle  and  head  dress  and  render  them  fit 
for  inspection.  It  is  one  o'clock  before  midday 
stables  is  finished  with,  and  then  of  course  it  is 
time  for  dinner. 

For  this  principal  meal  of  the  day  one  hour  is 
allowed ;  but  that  hour  includes  the  getting  ready 
for  the  afternoon  parade  for  foot  drill,  in  which  the 
cavalry  recruit  is  taught  the  use  of  the  sword  and 
all  movements  that  he  will  have  to  perform  dis- 
mounted. This  lasts  an  hour  or  thereabouts,  and 
is  followed  by  a  return  to  the  barrack-room  and 
another  change  of  clothing,  this  time  into  gymna- 
sium outfit.  The  recruit  is  then  marched  to  the 
gymnasium,  where,  for  the  space  of  another  hour, 
the  gymnastic  instructor  has  his  turn  at  licking  the 
raw  material  into  shape.  Marched  back  to  the 
barrack -room  once  more,  the  recruit  is  free  to 
devote  what  remains  to  him  of  the  minutes  before 
five  o'clock  to  cleaning  the  spurs,  sword,  etc,  which 


THE    WAY    OF   THE    RECRUIT        41 

have  become  soiled  by  the  morning's  riding-school 
work.  At  five  "  stables  "  sounds  again  ;  the  orders 
for  the  day  are  read  out  on  parade,  and  the  men 
march  to  stables  to  groom,  bed  down,  water, 
and  feed  their  horses,  a  business  to  which  an  hour 
is  devoted.  Tea  follows,  and  then,  unless  the 
recruit  has  been  warned  for  night  guard,  he  is  free 
to  complete  the  preparation  of  his  equipment  for 
the  next  day's  work,  and  use  what  little  spare 
time  is  left  in  such  relaxation  as  may  please  him. 

In  the  infantry  the  number  of  parades  done 
during  the  day  is  about  the  same;  there  is,  of 
course,  no  "  stables,"  but  the  time  which  the 
cavalryman  devotes  to  this  is  taken  up  by  musketry 
instruction,  foot  drill,  and  fatigues.  In  the  artillery 
there  is  more  to  learn  than  in  the  cavalry,  for  a 
driver  has  to  learn  to  drive  the  horse  he  rides,  and 
lead  another  one  as  well,  while  the  gunner  has 
plenty  to  keep  him  busy  in  the  mechanism  of  his 
gun,  its  cleaning,  and  the  various  duties  connected 
with  it. 

To  the  recruit  the  perpetual  cleaning,  polishing, 
burnishing,  and  scouring  are  naturally  somewhat 
irksome ;  and  it  is  not  until  a  man  has  undergone  the 
whole  of  his  recruits'  training  that  he  begins  dimly  to 
understand  the  extreme  delicacy  and  fineness  of  the 
instruments  of  his  trade — or  profession.    He  comes 


42         THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT 

gradually  to  realise  that  a  rifle  is  a  very  delicate 
piece  of  mechanism  ;  a  spot  of  rust  on  a  sword  may 
impair  the  efficiency  of  the  blade,  if  allowed  to 
remain  and  eat  in  ;  while  a  big  gun  is  a  complicated 
piece  of  machinery  needing  as  much  care  as  a 
repeater  watch,  if  it  is  to  work  efficiently,  and  a 
horse  is  as  helpless  and  needs  as  much  care  as 
a  baby.  At  first  sight  there  seems  no  need  for 
the  eternal  cleaning  of  buttons,  polishing  of  spurs, 
and  other  trivial  items  of  work  which  enter  into 
the  daily  life  of  a  soldier,  but  all  these  things  are 
directed  to  the  one  end  of  making  the  man  careful 
of  trifles  and  thoroughly  efficient  in  every  detail  of 
his  work. 

Old  soldiers,  having  finished  with  foot  drill 
(known  in  the  barrack-room  as  "square")  and 
with  riding  school  (which  is  allowed  to  keep  its 
name),  have  a  way  of  looking  down  on  recruits ; 
the  chief  aim  of  the  recruit,  if  he  be  a  normal  man, 
is  to  get  "  dismissed  "  from  riding  school,  square, 
and  gynmasium,  and  the  attitude  of  the  old  soldier 
encourages  this  ambition.  Usually  a  recruit  is 
placed  under  an  old  soldier  for  tuition  in  his  work, 
and  it  depends  very  much  on  the  quality  of  the  old 
hands  in  a  barrack-room  as  to  what  quality  of 
trained  man  is  turned  out  therefrom.  Service 
counts  more  than  personal  worth,  and  in  tact  nior§ 


THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT         43 

than  anything  else  in  barrack-room  Hfe.  The  man 
with  two  years'  service  will  get  into  trouble  sooner 
or  later  if  he  ventures  to  dictate  to  the  man  of  three 
years'  or  more  service,  whatever  the  relative  mental 
qualifications  of  the  two  men  concerned  may  be. 
"  Before  you  came  up,"  or  "  before  you  enlisted," 
are  the  most  crushing  phrases  that  can  be  applied 
to  a  fellow  soldier,  and  no  amount  of  efficiency 
atones  for  lack  of  years  to  count  toward  transfer 
to  the  Reserve  or  discharge  from  the  service  to 
pension. 

So  far  as  the  infantry  recruit  is  concerned,  foot 
drill  and  musketry,  together  with  a  certain  amount 
of  fatigues,  comprise  the  day's  routine.  With  foot 
drill  may  be  bracketed  bayonet  drill,  in  which 
the  recruit  is  taught  the  various  thrusts  and 
parries  which  can  be  made  with  that  weapon  for 
which  the  British  infantryman  has  been  famed 
since  before  Wellington's  time.  Both  in  the  cavalry 
and  infantry,  every  man  has  to  fire  a  musketry 
course  once  a  year ;  the  recruit's  course  of  musketry, 
however,  is  a  more  detailed  and,  in  a  way,  a  more 
instructive  business  than  the  course  which  the 
trained  man  has  to  undergo.  The  recruit  has  to 
be  taught  that  squeezing  motion  for  the  trigger 
which  does  not  disturb  the  aim  of  the  rifle  ;  he 
has  to  be  taught,  also,  the  extreme  care  with  which 


44         THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT 

a  rifle  must  be  handled,  cleaned,  and  kept.  It  may 
be  said  that  the  recruits'  course  is  designed  to  lay 
the  foundation  on  which  the  trained  man's  course 
of  musketry  is  built,  and  at  the  end  of  the  recruits' 
course  the  men  who  have  undergone  it  are  graded 
off  into  first,  second,  and  third  class  shots,  while 
"  marksmen  "  are  super-firsts. 

On  the  whole  the  first  year  of  a  man's  service  is 
the  hardest  of  any,  so  far  as  peace  soldiering  is 
concerned.  There  is  more  reason  in  this  than 
appears  on  the  surface.  A  recruit  joins  the  army 
somewhere  about  the  age  of  twenty — the  official 
limit  is  from  eighteen  to  twenty-five  ;  it  is  evident 
that  in  his  first  year  of  service  a  man  is  at 
such  a  stage  of  muscular  and  mental  growth 
as  to  render  him  capable  of  being  moulded  much 
more  readily  than  in  the  later  military  years.  It 
is  best  that  he  should  be  shaped,  as  far  as  possible, 
while  he  is  yet  not  quite  formed  and  set,  and, 
though  the  process  of  shaping  may  involve  what 
looks  like  an  undue  amount  of  physical  exertion, 
it  is,  in  reality,  not  beyond  the  capabilities  of  such 
men  as  doctors  pass  into  the  service.  It  is  true 
that  the  percentage  of  cases  of  heart  disease  occur- 
ring in  the  British  Army  is  rather  a  high  one,  but 
this  is  due  not  to  the  strenuous  training,  but  in 
many  cases  to  excessive  cigarette-smoking  and  in 


THE    WAY    OF    THE    RECRUIT         45 

others  to  the  strained  posture  of  "  attention," 
combined  with  predisposition  to  the  disease.  The 
recruit  has  a  hard  time,  certainly,  but  many  men 
work  harder,  and  the  years  of  service  which  follow 
on  the  strenuous  period  of  recruits'  training  are 
more  enjoyable  by  contrast. 


CHAPTER   III 

OFFICERS   AND    NON-COMS. 

rilHE  higher  ranks  of  officers  have  very  Httle 
-^  to  do  with  the  daily  Hfe  of  the  soldier.  Two 
or  three  times  a  year  the  general  officer  command- 
ing the  station  comes  round  on  a  tour  of  inspection, 
while  other  general  officers  and  inspecting  officers 
pay  visits  at  times.  The  highest  rank,  however, 
with  which  the  soldier  is  brought  in  frequent 
contact  is  the  commanding  officer  of  his  own 
regiment  or  battalion.  This  post  is  usually  held 
by  a  lieutenant-colonel,  as  by  the  time  an  officer 
has  attained  to  a  full  colonelcy  he  is  either  posted 
to  the  staff  or  passed  out  from  the  service  to  half- 
pay  under  the  age  limit. 

By  the  time  a  man  has  reached  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel  he  is,  as  a  rule,  far  more  con- 
versant with  the  ways  and  habits  of  the  soldier 
than  the  soldier  himself  is  willing  to  admit.  It 
would  surprise  men,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  if 
they  could  be  made  to  realise  how  intimately  the 
"  old  man  "  knows  his  regiment.    The  "  old  man  '* 

46 


OFFICERS    AND    NON-COMS.  47 

is  responsible  for  the  efficiency  of  the  regiment  in 
every  detail,  since,  as  its  head,  he  is  responsible 
for  the  efficiency  of  the  officers  controlling  the 
various  departments.  He  is  assisted  in  his  work 
by  the  second-in-command,  who  is  usually  a  major, 
and  is  not  attached  to  any  particular  squadron  or 
company,  but  is  responsible  for  the  internal 
working  and  domestic  arrangements  incidental  to 
the  life  of  his  unit.  These  two  are  assisted  in  their 
work  by  the  adjutant,  a  junior  officer,  sometimes 
captain  and  sometimes  lieutenant,  who  holds  his 
post  for  a  stated  term,  and  during  his  adjutancy 
is  expected  to  qualify  fully  in  the  headquarters 
staff  work  which  the  conduct  of  a  military  unit 
involves.  So  far  as  commissioned  officers  are 
concerned,  these  three  form  the  headquarters 
staff ;  it  must  not  be  overlooked,  however,  that 
the  quartermaster,  who  is  either  a  lieutenant  or  a 
captain,  and  has  won  his  commission  from  the 
ranks  in  the  majority  of  cases,  is  also  unattached 
to  any  particular  squadron  or  company.  He  is,  or 
should  be,  under  the  control  of  the  second-in- 
command,  since,  as  his  title  indicates,  he  is  con- 
cerned with  the  quarters  of  the  regiment,  and  with 
all  that  pertains  to  its  domestic  economy.  He 
cannot,  however,  be  regarded  as  a  part  of  the 
headquarters  staff ;    his  position  is  unique,  some- 


48  OFFICERS    AND    NON-COMS. 

where  between  commissioned  and  non-commis- 
sioned rank,  and  it  is  very  rarely  that  he  is  accorded 
the  position  of  the  officer  who  has  come  to  the 
service  through  Sandhurst. 

The  colonel  and  the  second-in-command,  as  a 
rule,  know  their  regiment  thoroughly  ;  they  know 
the  special  weaknesses  of  the  company  or  squadron 
officers  ;  they  are  conversant  with  the  virtues  and 
the  failings  of  Captain  Blank  and  Lieutenant 
Dash  ;  they  know  all  about  the  troubles  in  the 
married  quarters,  and  they  are  fully  informed  of 
the  happenings  in  the  sergeants'  mess.  Not  that 
there  is  any  system  of  espionage  in  the  Army,  but 
the  man  who  reaches  the  rank  of  colonel  is,  under 
the  present  conditions  governing  promotion,  keen- 
witted, and  in  the  dissemination  of  all  kinds  of 
news,  from  matter  for  legitimate  comment  to  rank 
scandal,  a  military  imit  is  about  equivalent  to  a 
ladies'  sewing  meeting.  The  colonel  and  the 
second-in-command  know  all  about  things  because, 
being  observant  men,  they  cannot  help  knowing. 

To  each  squadron  of  cavalry,  battery  of  artillery, 
or  company  of  infantry  is  allotted  a  captain  or 
major  as  officer  commanding,  and,  in  the  same 
way  as  a  colonel  is  responsible  for  the  efficiency  of 
his  regiment,  so  the  captain  or  major  is  responsible 
for   the   efficiency   of  the   squadron,    battery,    or 


OFFICERS    AND    NON-COMS.  49 

company  under  his  charge.  The  squadron  or 
company  officer  is  usually  not  quite  so  conversant 
with  the  more  intimate  details  of  his  work  as  is  the 
lieutenant-colonel.  For  one  thing,  he  has  not  had 
so  much  experience  ;  for  another,  he  may  not  have 
the  mental  capacity  required  in  a  lieutenant- 
colonel  ;  the  squadron  or  company  officer  is 
usually  a  jolly  good  fellow,  mindful  of  discipline 
and  careful  of  the  comfort  of  his  men,  but  there 
are  cases — exceptions,  certainly — of  utter  incom- 
petency. A  battery  officer,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  of  a  different  stamp.  Of  the  three  arms,  the 
artillery  demands  most  in  the  way  of  efficiency 
and  knowledge ;  the  mechanism  of  the  guns 
creates  an  atmosphere  in  which  officers  study  and 
train  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  cavalry  and 
infantry  officers.  The  battery  officer,  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten,  is  quite  as  competent  to  take  charge  of 
an  artillery  brigade  as  the  cavalry  or  infantry 
lieutenant-colonel  is  to  take  charge  of  his  regiment 
or  battalion. 

Next  in  order  of  rank  are  the  lieutenants  and 
subalterns,  youngsters  learning  the  business.  The 
lieutenant,  having  won  his  second  star,  is  a  reason- 
able being  ;  the  subaltern,  fresh  from  Sandhurst 
or  Woolwich,  and  oppressed  by  the  weight  of 
his  own  importance,  is  occasionally  "  too  big  for  his 

D 


50  OFFICERS    AND    NON-COMS. 

boots,"  a  bumptious  individual  whom  his  superiors 
endeavour  to  restrain,  but  whom  his  inferiors  in 
rank  must  obey,  though  they  have  little  belief  in 
his  judgment  or  in  his  capability  to  command 
them  intelligently.  This  may  appear  harsh  judg- 
ment on  the  subaltern,  but  experience  of  things 
military  confirms  it ;  Sandhurst  turns  out  its  pupils 
in  a  raw  state  ;  they  have  the  theory  of  their 
work,  but,  just  as  it  takes  years  to  make  a  soldier, 
so  it  takes  years  of  actual  military  work  to  make 
an  efficient  officer,  and  the  trained  man  in  the 
ranks  generally  views  with  extreme  disfavour  the 
introduction  of  a  raw  subaltern  from  Sandhurst 
into  the  company  or  squadron  to  which  he  belongs, 
though  very  often  the  young  officer  shapes  to  his 
work  quickly,  wins  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
his  men,  and  adds  materially  to  the  efficiency  and 
well-being  of  his  troop  or  section.  Again,  a  young 
officer  may  not  be  popular  among  his  men  in 
time  of  peace,  but  may  win  all  their  respect 
and  confidence  on  the  field,  where  values  alter 
and  are  frequently  reversed  from  peace  equiva- 
lents. 

Lieutenants  and  subalterns  are  given  charge  of  a 
troop  in  the  cavalry,  a  gun  or  section — according 
to  the  number  of  young  officers  available — in  a 
batterv    and  of  a  section  of  men  in  an  infantry 


i 


OFFICERS    AND    NON-COMS.  51 

company.  Nominally  in  command  of  their  men, 
they  are  in  practice  largely  dependent  on  their 
senior  non-commissioned  officers  for  the  efficiency 
of  the  men  under  their  command.  An  officer's 
real  efficiency,  in  peace  service,  does  not  begin 
until  he  "  gets  his  company  "  or  squadron  :  in 
other  words,  until  he  is  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
captain. 

Next  in  grade  of  rank  to  the  commissioned 
officers  stands  the  regimental  sergeant-major,  who 
is  termed  a  warrant-officer,  since  the  "  warrant  " 
which  he  holds,  in  virtue  of  his  rank,  distinguishes 
him  from  non-commissioned  officers.  He  has, 
usually,  sixteen  years  or  more  of  service ;  he  has 
even  more  knowledge  of  the  ways  of  the  regiment 
than  the  commanding  officer  himself,  and  his 
place  is  with  the  headquarters  staff,  while  his 
duties  lie  in  the  supervision  and  control  of  the  non- 
commissioned officers  and  their  messes  and  train- 
ing. His  position  is  peculiar ;  the  etiquette 
of  the  service  prevents  him  from  making  close 
friends  among  non-commissioned  officers,  while 
that  same  etiquette  prevents  commissioned 
officers  from  making  a  close  friend  of  him.  The 
only  non-commissioned  officer  who  stands  near 
him  in  rank  is  the  quartermaster  -  sergeant, 
who  is  directly  under  the  control  of  the  quarter- 


52  OFFICERS    AND   NON-COMS. 

master,  and  is  also  a  member  of  the  headquarters 
staff. 

From  this  point  of  rank  downward  the  ways  of 
the  different  arms  of  the  service  diverge.  In  the 
infantry,  the  chief  non-commissioned  officer  of  a 
company  is  the  colour-sergeant,  who  is  responsible 
both  for  internal  economy  and  efficiency  at  drill. 
In  the  cavalry  and  artillery  the  presence  of  horses 
and  the  far  greater  amount  of  equipment  involved 
divide  the  work  that  is  done  in  the  infantry  by 
the  colour-sergeant  into  two  parts.  In  the  cavalry 
each  squadron,  and  in  the  artillery  each  battery, 
is  controlled,  so  far  as  drill  and  efficiency  in  the 
field  is  concerned,  by  a  squadron  sergeant-major 
and  a  battery  sergeant-major,  respectively,  while 
the  domestic  economy  of  the  squadron  or  battery 
is  managed  by  squadron  quartermaster-sergeant  or 
battery  quartermaster-sergeant. 

Next  in  order  of  rank  come  the  sergeants,  the 
non-commissioned  equivalent  to  troop  and  section 
officers,  but  of  far  more  actual  importance  than 
these,  since  parades  frequently  take  place  in  the 
absence  of  the  troop  or  section  officer,  while  the 
troop  or  section  sergeant  is  at  all  times  responsible 
to  his  superiors  for  the  efficiency  of  his  men.  The 
rank  of  sergeant  is  seldom  attained  in  less  than 
seven  years,   and  thus  the  man  of  three  stripes 


OFFICERS    AND    NON-COMS.  58 

whom  Kipling  justly  described  in  his  famous 
phrase  "  as  the  backbone  of  the  Army"  is  a  man 
of  experience  and  fully  entitled  to  his  post. 

Next  in  order  of  rank  to  the  sergeant  is  the 
corporal,  whose  duties  lie  principally  in  the 
maintenance  of  barrack -room  discipline,  though 
he  is  largely  responsible  for  the  training  of  squads 
and  sections  of  men  in  field  work.  Often  in  the 
cavalry  he  is  given  charge  of  a  troop  temporarily, 
and  in  the  artillery,  though  each  gun  is  supposed 
to  be  in  charge  of  a  sergeant,  it  happens  at  times 
that  the  corporal  has  charge  of  the  gun.  The 
lowest  rank  of  all  is  that  of  lance-corporal,  aptly 
termed  "  half  of  nothing."  Men  resent,  as  a  rule, 
any  assumption  of  authority  by  a  lance-corporal — 
and  yet  the  lance-corporal  has  to  exercise  his 
authority  at  the  risk  of  being  told  he  was  a  private 
only  five  minutes  ago.  Bearing  in  mind  the 
material  from  which  the  Army  is  recruited,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  a  large  percentage  of  lance- 
corporals,  having  tried  for  themselves  what  non- 
commissioned rank  feels  like,  give  it  up  and  revert 
to  the  rank  of  private.  There  are  certain  advan- 
tages in  being  a  lance-corporal ;  there  is  a  distinct 
advantage,  for  instance,  in  being  "  in  charge  of  the 
guard  "  instead  of  having  to  do  sentry  go  ;  another 
advantage  arises  in  the  matter  of  fatigues  :    the 


54  OFFICERS    AND    NON-COMS. 

lance-corporal — so  long  as  he  behaves  himself — 
merely  takes  his  turn  on  the  roll  after  the  full 
corporals  in  charge  of  a  fatigue  party  ;  he  is  a 
superintendent,  not  a  worker,  so  far  as  fatigues 
are  concerned.  The  chief  disadvantage  consists  in 
the  way  in  which  his  former  comrades  regard  him. 
As  one  concerned  in  their  training  and  discipline 
he  is  no  longer  to  be  considered  as  a  comrade 
and  equal  by  the  privates ;  in  many  infantry 
units,  lance-corporals  are  definitely  ordered  not 
to  fraternise  with  the  men,  although  they  per- 
force sleep  in  the  same  rooms  and  share  the  same 
meals. 

The  sergeants  of  each  unit — taking  the  regiment 
or  battalion  as  a  unit — have  their  own  mess,  in  the 
same  way  that  the  officers  have  theirs.  They  take 
all  their  meals  in  the  mess,  and  they  sleep  in 
"  bunks  "  ;  their  separateness  from  the  rank  and 
file  is  thus  emphasised  and  their  control  over  the 
men  rendered  more  definite  and  easy  by  this 
separateness.  In  each  unit  there  is  also  established 
a  corporals'  mess,  but  this  is  merely  a  recreation 
room  in  the  same  way  that  the  canteen  forms  a 
recreation  room  for  the  privates.  Corporals  and 
lance-corporals  take  their  meals  with  the  men  and 
sleep  in  the  same  rooms  as  the  men.  This,  especi- 
ally  in    the    case   of   lance-corporals,    diminishes 


OFFICERS    AND    NON-COMS.  55 

authority,  but  at  the  same  time  it  renders  easier 
the  maintenance  of  barrack -room  discipHne  and 
the  control  of  barrack-room  life,  for  which  corporals 
and  lance-corporals  are  held  responsible. 

Mainly  in  connection  with  the  development  of 
initiative  which  arose  out  of  the  experience  gained 
from  the  South  African  war,  a  system  of  under- 
studies has  been  created  among  non-commissioned 
officers  and  senior  privates.  Each  rank  in  turn  is 
expected  to  be  able  to  assume  the  duties  of  the 
rank  immediately  above  it,  in  case  of  necessity, 
and  all  are  trained  to  this  end.  It  may  be  remarked 
that  certain  certificates  of  education  must  be 
obtained  by  non-commissioned  officers  ;  as  soon 
as  a  lance-corporal  gets  his  stripe  he  is  expected 
to  go  to  a  military  school  in  the  evenings  until  he 
has  obtained  a  second-class  certificate  of  education, 
the  qualifications  for  this  being  equivalent  to  those 
evidenced  by  the  possession  of  an  ordinary  fourth- 
standard  school  certificate.  The  higher  ranks  of 
non-commissioned  officer — that  is,  all  above  the 
rank  of  sergeant — are  expected  to  qualify  for  a 
first-class  Army  certificate  of  education,  which  is 
quite  equivalent  to  an  ex -7th  standard  council- 
school  certificate. 

Further,  every  non-commissioned  officer  must 
obtain    certificates    of    proficiency    in    drill    and 


56  OFFICERS    AND    NON-COMS. 

musketry,  showing  that  he  is  a  capable  instructor 
as  well  as  fully  conversant  with  drill  on  his  own 
account.  The  way  to  promotion  is  paved  with 
certificates  of  various  kinds.  There  are  courses  in 
signalling,  scouting,  musketry,  drill,  and  the 
hundred  and  one  items  of  a  soldier's  work  ;  these 
courses  qualify  for  instructorship,  and  some  of 
them  are  open  only  to  non-commissioned  officers. 
The  passing  of  such  courses,  increasing  the  efficiency 
of  the  non-commissioned  officers  concerned,  is 
evidence  of  fitness  for  further  promotion,  and  is 
rewarded  accordingly. 

Technically  speaking,  the  post  of  lance-corporal 
is  an  appointment,  not  a  promotion,  and  therefore 
the  lance-corporal  can  be  deprived  of  his  stripe  on 
the  word  of  his  commanding  officer.  With  the 
exception  of  the  rank  of  lance-sergeant,  which 
admits  a  corporal  to  the  sergeants'  mess  and  takes 
him  out  of  the  barrack-room  without  a  correspond- 
ing increase  of  pay,  all  ranks  from  corporal  upward 
count  as  promotions,  and  can  only  be  reduced  by 
way  of  punishment  by  the  sentence  of  a  court 
martial.  A  regimental  court  martial,  which  has 
power  to  reduce  a  corporal  to  the  ranks  and  inflict 
certain  limited  punishments  on  a  private,  is  com- 
posed of  three  officers  of  the  unit  concerned.  A 
district  court  martial,  with  wider  powers,  including 


OFFICERS    AND    NON-COMS.  57 

the  reduction  of  a  sergeant  to  the  ranks,  is  com- 
posed of  three  officers  ;  the  president  must  not 
in  any  case  be  below  the  rank  of  captain,  and 
usually  is  a  major,  and  he  and  the  two  junior 
officers  who  form  the  tribunal  usually  belong  to 
other  regiments  than  that  of  the  accused. 
Military  law  differs  in  many  respects  from  civil 
law  ;  there  is,  of  course,  no  such  thing  as  a  trial  by 
jury ;  the  adjutant  of  the  regiment  to  which  the 
accused  belongs  is  always  the  nominal  prosecutor, 
but  in  actual  practice  the  witnesses  for  the 
prosecution  are  of  far  more  importance  than  is  he. 
Evidence  for  the  prosecution  is  taken  first,  then 
the  evidence  for  the  defence  ;  the  accused,  if  he 
wishes,  can  speak  in  his  own  defence  ;  if  the  court 
is  satisfied  of  the  innocence  of  the  accused,  he  is  at 
once  discharged  ;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is 
any  doubt  of  his  innocence,  he  is  marched  out 
while  the  court  consider  their  finding  and  sentence, 
and  the  latter  is  not  announced  until  the  two  or 
three  days  necessary  for  confirmation  of  the  pro- 
ceedings by  the  general  officer  commanding  the 
station  have  elapsed. 

The  promulgation  of  a  court-martial  sentence 
is  an  impressive  ceremony.  The  regiment  or 
battalion  to  which  the  accused  belongs  is  formed 
up    to    occupy   three    sides    of   a    square,    facing 


58  OFFICERS   AND    NON-COMS. 

inwards.  The  accused,  under  armed  escort, 
together  with  the  regimental  sergeant-major  and 
the  adjutant  of  the  unit,  occupy  the  fourth  side 
of  the  square,  and  the  adjutant  reads  a  summary 
of  the  proceedings,  concluding  with  a  recital  of 
the  sentence  on  the  accused.  In  the  case  of  a 
private  the  ceremony  is  then  at  an  end,  and  the 
regiment  is  marched  away,  while  the  accused 
returns  to  the  guard-room  under  escort.  In  the 
case  of  a  non-commissioned  officer  the  regimental 
sergeant-major  formally  cuts  the  stripes  from  off 
the  arm  of  the  accused.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  in 
the  near  future  this  court-martial  parade,  degrad- 
ing to  the  accused  man,  and  not  by  any  means 
an  edifying  spectacle  for  his  comrades,  will  be 
abolished,  for  a  record  of  the  court  martial  and  of 
the  punishment  inflicted  is  always  inserted  in  the 
regimental  orders  of  the  day. 

Fortunately,  however,  court  martials  are  in- 
frequent occurrences,  and,  so  far  as  the  non- 
commissioned officer  is  concerned,  life  is  a  fairly 
pleasant  business.  There  is  plenty  of  hard  work 
to  keep  him  in  good  health,  but  there  are  also 
many  hours  that  can  be  spent  in  pleasant  recrea- 
tion, and  the  man  who  takes  his  profession 
seriously  may  now  hope  to  attain  to  higher  rank. 
Promotions  to  commissions  from  the  ranks  have. 


OFFICERS   AND    NON-COMS.  59 

in  the  past,  been  infrequent ;  but  the  prospect  is 
now  much  more  hopeful,  and,  in  any  case,  the 
non-commissioned  officer  can  look  forward  to  a 
pension  which  will  serve  as  a  perpetual  reminder 
that  his  time  has  not  been  wasted. 


CHAPTER    IV 

INFANTRY 

rpHE  old-time  term,  light  infantry,  has  little 
-■-  meaning  at  present  as  far  as  difference  in 
the  stamp  of  man  and  the  weight  of  equipment 
carried  is  concerned  ;  one  infantry  battalion  is 
equal  to  another  in  respect  of  "  lightness,"  except 
that  some  Highland  battalions,  recruiting  from 
districts  which  provide  exceptionally  brawny 
specimens  of  humanity,  obtain  a  taller  and 
weightier  average  of  men.  Varieties  of  equipment 
in  the  old  days  made  infantry  "  heavy  '*  and 
"  light,"  but  the  modern  infantryman  is  kept  as 
light  as  possible  in  the  matter  of  equipment  in 
all  units. 

Certain  battalions  possess  and  are  very  proud 
of  distinctions  awarded  them  for  feats  on  the  field 
of  battle.  Thus  it  is  permitted  to  one  infantry 
regiment,  including  all  its  battalions,  to  wear 
the  regimental  badge  both  on  the  front  and 
the  back  of  the  helmet  in  review  order,  also 
on   their  field-service  caps,  to   commemorate  an 

60 


INFANTRY  61 

action  in  which  the  men  were  surrounded  and 
fought  back  to  back  until  they  had  extricated 
themselves  from  their  perilous  position — or  rather, 
until  the  survivors  had  extricated  themselves.  In 
another  regiment,  the  sergeants  are  permitted  to 
wear  the  sash  over  the  same  shoulder  as  the  officers, 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  on  one  occasion  all  the 
officers  were  killed,  and  the  non-commissioned 
officers  took  command,  with  noteworthy  results. 
Yet  another  distinction,  but  of  a  different  kind, 
is  the  concession  made  to  Irish  regiments  in 
allowing  them  to  wear  sprigs  of  shamrock  on 
St.  Patrick's  day. 

In  the  "review  order"  or  full  dress  of  modern 
infantrymen — and  in  fact  of  all  British  soldiers — 
there  are  certain  buttons  and  fittings  which  serve 
no  useful  purpose,  and  soldiers  themselves,  even, 
sometimes  wonder  why  these  things  are  worn.  The 
reason  is  that,  in  old  time,  all  these  fittings  had  a 
use  ;  the  buttons  on  the  back  of  the  tunic  supported 
belts  which  are  no  longer  worn,  or  covered  pockets 
which  no  longer  exist.  There  is  a  reason  also  in  the 
officer  wearing  his  sash  on  one  shoulder  and  the 
sergeant  his  on  another,  and  in  the  same  way  there 
is  a  reason  for  every  seemingly  useless  fitting  in  a 
soldier's  review  uniform — it  perpetuates  a  tradition 
of  the  particular  battalion  or  regiment  concerned, 


62  INFANTRY 

or  it  keeps  alive  a  tradition  of  the  service  as  a  whole. 
To  the  outsider,  these  may  appear  useless  for- 
malities, but  they  are  not  so  in  reality ;  the  soldier 
is  intensely  proud  of  these  things,  which  make  for 
esyrit  de  corps  and  maintain  the  spirit  of  the  Army 
quite  as  much  as  material  advantages. 

The  actual  spirit  in  which  the  infantryman  views 
his  work  is  a  difficult  thing  to  assess.  One  note- 
worthy example  of  that  spirit  is  the  case  of  Piper 
Findlater,  who,  wounded  beyond  the  power  of 
movement  at  Dargai,  sat  up  and  piped — an 
amazing  piece  of  courage  and  coolness  under  fire. 
Yet  that  same  Piper  Findlater,  invalided  home  and 
out  of  the  service,  could  display  himself  on  a  music- 
hall  stage,  an  action  which  was  incomprehensible 
to  the  civilian  mind.  But,  to  the  average  infantry- 
man, there  was  nothing  incongruous  in  the  two 
actions — one  was  as  much  the  right  of  the  man  as 
the  other  was  to  his  credit,  and  Findlater  was 
typical  of  the  British  infantryman. 

Under  the  present  system,  each  infantry  regiment 
is  divided  into  two  or  more  battalions.  Under 
the  old  system,  each  battalion  was  distinguished 
by  a  number,  but  the  numbers  have  been  abolished 
in  favour  of  names  of  counties  or  districts,  and  two 
or  more  battalions  form  the  regiment  of  a  county 
or  division  of  a  county.     It  is  very  seldom  that 


INFANTRY  63 

these  two  or  more  portions  of  the  same  regiment 
meet  each  other,  for,  in  the  case  of  a  two-battahon 
regiment,  one  battaUon  is  usually  on  foreign 
service  while  the  other  is  domiciled  in  England,  and 
the  home  battalion  feeds  the  one  on  foreign  service 
with  recruits  as  needed  to  keep  the  latter  up  to 
strength.  A  notable  exception  to  this  rule  occurred 
in  the  case  of  the  Norfolk  Regiment  a  few  years 
ago,  when  the  first  and  second  battalions  met  at 
Bloemfontein,  one  outward  bound  at  the  beginning 
of  its  term  of  foreign  service,  and  the  other  about 
to  start  for  home. 

The  infantryman  is  fitted  for  what  constitutes 
the  greater  part  of  his  work,  when  the  season's 
"  training  "  is  over,  by  what  is  known  as  "  route 
marching."  In  this,  a  battalion  is  started  out  at 
the  beginning  of  the  route-marching  season  on  a 
march  of  a  few  miles,  in  light  order — carrying 
rifles  and  bayonets  only,  perhaps.  The  distance 
covered  is  gradually  increased,  and  the  weight  of 
equipment  carried  by  the  men  is  also  increased, 
until  the  men  concerned  are  carrying  their  full 
packs  and  marching  twelve  or  fourteen  miles  a 
day.  Service  conditions  are  maintained  as  far  as 
possible,  so  as  to  make  the  men  fit  for  long  marches 
at  any  time  ;  by  this  means  the  men's  feet  are 
hardened     and     the     men     themselves     brought 


64  INFANTRY 

thoroughly  into  condition,  while  weaklings  are 
picked  out  and  marked  down  for  future  reference. 
''  Falling  out  "  on  a  route  march  without  good 
and  sufficient  reason  means  days  to  barracks  for 
the  offender,  at  the  least,  and  "  cells  "  is  a  possi- 
bility. 

The  work  of  the  infantryman  is  less  complex 
than  that  of  any  other  branch  of  the  service  :  he 
has  to  be  trained  to  march  well  and  to  know  how 
to  use  his  rifle  and  bayonet.  Principally,  given  the 
physical  endurance  for  the  marching  part  of  the 
business,  he  has  to  learn  to  shoot,  and  the  sim- 
plicity of  his  duties  is  compensated  for  by  the 
thoroughness  with  which  he  is  taught.  Then, 
again,  discipline  is  of  necessity  stricter  in  infantry 
units  than  in  other  branches  of  the  service  ;  the 
cavalryman,  with  a  horse  to  care  for  as  well  as 
himself  and  his  arms  and  equipment,  and  the 
driver  or  gunner  of  artillery,  with  "  two  horses 
and  two  sets  "  (of  saddlery)  or  his  gun  or  limber 
to  mind,  is  kept  busy  most  of  the  time  without 
an  excess  of  discipline,  but  the  infantryman  in 
time  of  peace  is  concerned  only  with  himself,  his 
arms  and  equipment,  and  his  barrack -room — a 
small  total  when  compared  with  the  cares  of  the 
man  in  the  cavalry  or  artillery.  By  way  of  com- 
pensation, the  infantryman  is  made  to  give  more 


INFANTRY  65 

attention  to  his  barrack-room  ;  he  is  restricted, 
in  a  way  that  would  not  be  possible  in  the  cavalry 
or  artillery,  in  the  way  in  which  he  employs  his 
leisure  hours,  and  parades  are  made  to  keep  his 
hands  out  of  mischief,  as  well  as  to  train  him  to 
thorough  efficiency. 

A  brigade  of  infantry,  consisting  of  four  bat- 
talions, looks  a  perfectly  uniform  mass  of  men  on, 
say,  a  service,  dress  parade,  but  intimate  knowledge 
of  the  characteristics  of  the  men  in  each  battalion 
reveals  a  world  of  difference  ;  each  regiment  has 
its  own  traditions,  and  each  battalion  differs 
widely  from  the  rest  in  its  methods  of  working,  its 
way  of  issuing  commands,  and  its  internal  arrange- 
ments. There  is  a  standard  of  bugle  calls  for  the 
whole  Army,  but  practically  every  infantry  bat- 
talion infuses  a  certain  amount  of  individuality 
into  the  method  of  sounding  the  call.  The  buglers 
of  the  Rifle  Brigade,  for  instance,  would  scorn  to 
sound  their  calls  in  the  way  that  the  East  Surreys 
or  the  York  and  Lancaster  battalions  sound  theirs, 
and  conversely  a  York  and  Lancaster  or  an  East 
Surrey  man  would  smile  at  the  bugle  call  of  the 
Rifle  Brigade  battalion.  The  districts  from  which 
men  are  recruited,  too,  account  for  many  little 
peculiarities  in  the  ways  of  different  battalions. 
There  is  obviously  a  world  of  difference  between 


66  INFANTRY 

the  way  in  which  a  man  of  the  King's  Own  York- 
shire Light  Infantry  will  view  a  given  situation, 
and  the  view  adopted  by  a  man  of  the  East  Surreys, 
for  one  is  "  reet  Yorkshire,"  while  the  other  is 
Cockney  all  through.  Dialects  and  regimental 
slang  combined  make  the  language  of  the  one 
almost  unintelligible  to  the  other,  and,  while  each 
arrives  at  precisely  the  same  end  by  slightly  vary- 
ing means,  each  claims  superiority  over  the  other. 

The  spirit  of  the  British  infantryman,  with  very 
few  exceptions,  consists  mainly  in  his  belief  that 
he  is  a  member  of  the  best  company  in  the  very  best 
battalion  of  infantry  in  the  service.  As  for  his 
particular  arm  of  the  service,  he  points  with  pride 
to  the  fact  that  he  comes  in  from  a^march  and  gets 
to  his  food  while  the  poor  cavalryman  is  still  fret- 
ting about  in  the  horse  lines,  and  he  has  no  two 
sets  of  harness  to  bother  about  after  a  field  day. 
He  slings  his  equipment  on  the  shelf  and  goes  off 
to  his  meal  when  the  field  day  is  over,  while  the 
poor  gunner  is  busy  with  an  oil  rag,  keeping  the 
rust  from  eating  into  his  gun  and  its  fittings  until 
the  time  comes  to  clean  it.  Thus  the  infantryman 
on  his  advantages,  and  with  some  justice,  too. 

But  in  the  barrack-room  the  cavalryman  and 
artilleryman  have  the  advantage.  They  can  make 
down  their  beds  and  snooze  when  work  is  done. 


INFANTRY  67 

secure  from  interruption  until  "  stables "  shall 
sound  and  turn  them  out  to  care  for  their  "  long- 
faced  chums."  The  infantryman,  on  the  other  hand, 
has  to  prepare  for  barrack-room  and  kit  inspections 
at  all  times  ;  he  has  to  wet-scrub  and  dry-scrub 
the  floors,  blacklead  the  table  trestles  and  legs  of 
forms,  whitewash  himself  tired  on  articles  which, 
to  the  civilian  eye,  appear  already  sufficiently 
coated  with  whitewash,  pick  grass  off  the  drill 
ground,  and  carry  out  a  host  of  orders  which  seem 
designed  for  his  especial  irritation,  though  in 
reality  they  are  designed  to  keep  him  at  work 
and  prevent  him  from  being  utterly  idle.  In  certain 
hours,  the  infantryman  must  be  made  to  work  to 
keep  him  in  condition,  and  if  the  work  of  a  neces- 
sary nature  is  not  sufficient  to  keep  him  employed, 
then  work  is  made  for  him.  It  must  be  said  that, 
owing  to  the  existence  of  undiscerning  command- 
ing and  other  officers,  a  lot  of  this  work,  although 
undoubtedly  it  fulfils  its  purpose,  is  irritating  to 
the  last  degree,  and  might  with  advantage  be 
exchanged  for  tasks  which  would  exercise  the 
intelligence  of  the  men  instead  of  rousing  their 
disgust.  Grass-picking  is  an  especially  detested 
form  of  labour  which  is  common  in  some  battalions 
of  the  infantry.  In  most  units,  however,  men  are 
put  to  useful  occupations ;  in  some  stations  where 


68  INFANTRY 

available  ground  admits,  gardens  are  allotted  to 
the  men,  who  cultivate  creditable  supplies  of 
vegetables  for  the  use  of  their  messes  and  flowers 
for  decorative  purposes. 

Another  favourite  form  of  exercise,  in  which 
the  infantryman  is  indulged  with  what  appears 
to  him  unnecessary  frequency,  is  kit  inspec- 
tion. At  first  sight,  it  would  seem  that  the 
circumstance  of  an  officer  inspecting  the  kit  and 
equipment  of  his  men  is  not  one  which  would 
cause  an  undue  amount  of  trouble,  but  the  reverse 
of  this  is  the  case  in  practice.  Each  man  has  to 
lay  down  his  kit  to  a  regulation  pattern  ;  at  the 
head  of  the  bed,  on  which  the  clothing  and  equip- 
ment is  laid  out,  the  reds  and  blues  and  khaki- 
coloured  squares  represent  much  time  spent  by 
the  man  in  folding  each  article  of  clothing  to  the 
last  half -inch  of  size  and  form,  prescribed  by  the 
regulation  affecting  the  way  in  which  kit  must  be 
laid  down  for  inspection.  Then  come  the  under- 
clothing, knife  and  fork,  razor.  Prayer  Book  and 
Bible,  brushes,  and  other  odds  and  ends  with 
which  every  man  must  be  provided.  If  any 
article  is  deficient  from  the  official  list,  the  man  is 
promptly  "  put  down  "  for  a  new  article  to  replace 
the  deficiency — and  for  this  he  has  to  pay.  The 
upkeep  of  a  full  kit  is  most  strictly  enforced,  and, 


INFANTRY  69 

in  addition  to  the  completeness  of  the  kit,  the 
amount  of  poHsh  on  the  various  articles  calls  for 
much  attention  on  the  part  of  the  inspecting  officer. 
A  knife  or  fork  not  sufficiently  bright,  boots  not 
quite  as  well  cleaned  and  polished  as  they  might 
be,  or  brass  buttons  displaying  a  suspicion  of  dull- 
ness, lead  at  the  least  to  an  order  to  show  again  at 
a  stated  hour — ^not  the  single  article,  but  the  whole 
kit — while  repeated  deficiencies,  either  in  the  quan- 
tity of  the  articles  or  in  the  evident  amount  of  care 
bestowed  on  them,  will  lead  to  defaulters'  drill  or 
even  cells. 

Kit  inspection  counts  as  a  "  parade,"  and  not  as 
a  "  fatigue."  The  latter  term  is  used  to  imply  all 
kinds  of  actual  work  in  connection  with  the  main- 
tenance of  order  in  the  battalion,  and  varies  from 
washing  up  in  the  sergeants'  mess  to  carrying  coals 
for  the  barrack-room  or  married  quarters.  To 
each  unit,  as  a  rule,  there  is  a  coal-yard  attached, 
and  from  this  a  certain  amount  of  coal  is  issued 
free  each  week  for  cooking  purposes,  while  in  the 
winter  months  a  further  amount  is  allotted  to  the 
men  to  burn  in  the  barrack-room  stoves.  If  the 
allowance  is  exceeded — and  since  it  is  a  small  one 
it  is  usually  exceeded — ^the  men  club  round  among 
themselves  to  purchase  more,  at  the  rate  of  a  penny 
or  twopence  a  man.     The  fetching  of  this  extra 


70  INFANTRY 

coal  does  not  count  as  a  "  fatigue  "  in  the  official 
sense. 

A  roll  is  kept  of  all  men  liable  for  fatigue  duty, 
and  each  man  takes  his  turn  in  alphabetical  order 
in  the  performance  of  the  various  tasks  that  have 
to  be  done.  As  these  tasks  differ  considerably  in 
nature  and  extent,  it  follows  that  the  alphabetical 
way  of  ordering  the  roll  is  as  fair  as  any,  though 
artful  dodgers,  getting  wind  of  a  stiff  fatigue  ahead, 
will  get  out  of  doing  it  by  exchanging  their  turns 
with  those  men  who  would  otherwise  get  an  easier 
task.  As  a  rule,  sergeants'  mess  fatigue  is  one  of 
the  least  liked,  except  on  Sunday  mornings,  when 
it  releases  the  man  who  does  it  from  church  parade 
— of  which  more  later. 

For  the  actual  housemaid  work  of  the  barrack- 
room,  a  roll  is  usually  kept  in  each  room,  and  the 
men  of  the  room  take  turns  at  ''  orderly  man,"  as 
it  is  called.  This  involves  the  final  sweeping  out 
of  the  room  after  each  man  has  swept  under 
his  own  bed  and  round  the  little  bit  of  floor  which 
is  his  own  particular  territory.  It  involves  the 
care  of  and  responsibility  for  all  the  kits  in  the 
room  while  the  remainder  of  the  men  are  out  at 
drill,  and  also  the  fetching  of  all  meals  and  washing 
up  of  the  plates  and  basins  after  each  meal.  The 
orderly  man  of  the  day  is  not  supposed  to  leave  the 


INFANTRY  71 

room  during  parade  hours,  except  to  fetch  meals 
for  the  rest ;  it  is  his  duty,  after  all  have  gone  out, 
to  put  the  boxes  at  the  foot  of  the  beds  in  an  exact 
line,  that  there  may  be  nothing  to  disturb  the 
symmetry  of  things  when  the  orderly  officer  or  the 
colour-sergeant  comes  round  on  a  morning  visit  of 
inspection.  In  a  home  station,  as  far  as  infantry 
is  concerned,  practically  all  barrack-room  inspec- 
tions take  place  before  one  o'clock  in  the  day,  and 
in  the  afternoons  such  men  as  are  in  the  barrack- 
room  have  it  to  themselves.  It  is  the  rule  in  some 
battalions,  however,  that  no  beds  may  be  "  made 
down  "  before  six  o'clock — a  harsh  rule,  and  one 
which  serves  no  useful  purpose,  unless  it  be  con- 
sidered useful  to  keep  a  man  from  lying  down  to 
rest. 

While  guard  duty  is  kept  as  light  as  possible  in 
mounted  branches  of  the  service,  it  is  allowed  to 
assume  large  proportions  in  the  infantry.  In  a 
cavalry  regiment,  the  "  main  guard,"  which  mounts 
duty  for  twenty-four  hours  and  has  charge  of  the 
regimental  guard -room  and  prisoners  confined 
therein,  is  composed  at  the  most  of  a  corporal  and 
three  men,  but  in  the  infantry  the  main  guard  of  a 
battalion  consists  of  a  sergeant,  a  corporal  or  lance- 
corporal,  and  six  men,  providing  three  reliefs  of  two 
sentries  apiece.     Guard  duty  is  done  in  "  review 


72  INFANTRY 

order."  That  is  to  say,  the  men  dress  up  in  their 
best  clothes,  with  the  last  possible  polish  on  metal- 
work  and  the  best  possible  pipeclay  on  all  belts  and 
equipment  that  permit  of  it ;  and  the  inspection  to 
which  the  guard  is  submitted  before  taking  over  its 
duties  is  the  most  searching  form  of  inspection 
which  the  soldier  has  to  undergo  after  he  has  been 
dismissed  from  recruits'  training.  The  men  of  the 
guard  do  turns  of  two  hours  sentry-go  apiece,  and 
then  get  four  hours'  rest,  except  in  very  inclement 
weather,  when  the  periods  are  reduced  to  one  hour 
of  duty  and  two  hours  of  rest.  Experience  has 
placed  it  beyond  doubt  that  the  "  two  hours  on 
and  four  hours  off  "  is  the  best  way  of  doing  duty 
in  reliefs  ;  it  imposes  less  strain  on  the  men,  who 
have  to  keep  up  their  duty  for  a  day  and  a  night, 
than  any  other  form  in  which  it  could  be  arranged. 
Certain  men  in  infantry  units — ^and  in  fact  in  all 
units — are  excused  from  the  regular  routine  of 
duty  in  order  to  fill  special  posts.  Noteworthy 
among  these  are  the  "  flag-waggers  "  or  regimental 
signallers,  a  body  of  men  maintained  at  a  certain 
strength  for  the  purpose  of  signalling  messages 
with  flags,  heliograph,  or  lamps,  by  means  of  the 
Morse  telegraphic  code,  and  also  with  flags  at  short 
distances  by  semaphore.  Bearing  in  mind  the 
average  education  among  the  rank  and  file,  it  is 


INFANTRY  73 

remarkable  with  what  facility  men  learn  the  use 
of  the  Morse  code.  Against  this  must  be  set  the 
fact  that  only  selected  men  are  employed  as 
signallers  ;  these  are  taught  the  alphabet,  and  the 
various  signs  employed  for  special  purposes,  by 
being  grouped  in  squads,  and,  after  their  pre- 
liminary instruction  is  completed,  they  are  sent 
out  to  various  points  from  which  they  send 
messages  to  each  other,  under  conditions  approxi- 
mating as  nearly  as  possible  to  those  which  obtain 
on  active  service. 

In  order  to  maintain  the  signallers  of  a  unit  in 
full  practice  and  efficiency,  the  men  are  excused 
from  all  ordinary  parades  for  a  certain  part  of  the 
year  ;  during  manoeuvres  they  are  attached  to  the 
headquarters  staff  of  their  unit  and  carry  on  their 
work  as  signallers,  not  as  ordinary  duty-men.  The 
wagging  of  flags  is  only  a  part  of  their  duty,  for 
they  have  to  learn  the  mechanism  and  use  of  the 
heliograph,  since,  when  sunlight  permits  of  its  use, 
this  instrument  can  be  employed  for  the  trans- 
mission of  messages  to  a  far  greater  distance  than 
is  possible  even  with  large  flags.  Lamps  for  signal- 
ling by  night  are  operated  by  a  button  which  altern- 
ately obscures  and  exhibits  the  light  of  a  lamp 
placed  behind  a  concentrating  lens.  The  practised 
signaller  is  as  efficient  in  the  use  of  flags,  lamps, 


74  INFANTRY 

and  heliograph  as  is  the  post-office  operator  in  the 
use  of  the  ordinary  telegraph  instrument,  though 
the  exigencies  of  field  service  render  military 
signalling  a  considerably  slower  business  than 
ordinary  wire  telegraphy. 

Another  course  of  instruction  which  carries  with 
it  a  certain  amount  of  exemption  from  duty  in  the 
infantry  is  that  of  scout.  The  practised  scout  is 
capable  of  plotting  a  way  across  country  at  night, 
marching  by  the  compass  or  by  the  stars,  making 
a  watch  serve  as  a  compass,  military  map-reading 
— which  is  not  as  simple  a  matter  as  might  be 
supposed — and  of  making  sketches  in  conventional 
military  signs  of  areas  of  ground,  natural  defensive 
positions,  and  all  points  likely  to  be  of  interest  and 
advantage  from  a  military  point  of  view.  The  work 
of  the  signaller  has  been  going  on  for  many  years, 
but  the  training  of  scouts  is  a  movement  which  has 
come  about  and  developed  almost  entirely  during 
the  last  twelve  years,  which,  as  the  Army  reckons 
time,  is  but  a  very  short  period.  It  may  be 
anticipated  that  the  practice  of  scouting  and  the 
training  of  scouts  will  develop  considerably  as 
time  goes  on. 

Needless  to  say,  the  orderly-man  is  excused  all 
parades  during  his  day  of  duty  as  such.  Only  in 
exceptional    circumstances    are    cooks    taken    for 


INFANTRY  75 

parades,  and  such  men  as  the  regimental  shoe- 
maker, the  armourer  and  his  assistants,  and  other 
men  employed  in  various  capacities,  attend  the 
regular  duty  parades  very  seldom.  On  field  days 
occasionally,  and  also  on  certain  commanding- 
officers'  drill  parades,  the  orders  of  the  day 
announce  that  the  battalion  will  parade  ''  as 
strong  as  possible."  This  means  a  general  sweep 
up  and  turning  out  of  men  employed  in  various 
ways  and  excused  from  parades  as  a  rule,  and  their 
unhandiness  owing  to  lack  of  practice  sometimes 
results  in  their  being  relieved  from  their  posts  and 
returned  to  duty,  while  frequently  it  involves  their 
doing  extra  drills  in  addition  to  their  regular  work. 
The  duty-man  affects  to  despise  the  man  on 
the  staff,  but  this  affectation  is  more  often  a 
cloak  for  envy.  "  Staff  jobs,"  as  the  various  forms 
of  employment  in  a  unit  are  called,  generally  mean 
extra  pay  ;  in  nineteen  cases  out  of  twenty  they 
mean  exemption  from  most  ordinary  parades  and 
from  a  good  deal  of  the  ordinary  routine  work  of 
the  unit  concerned  ;  in  almost  all  cases  they  mean 
total  exemption  from  fatigues.  Under  these 
circumstances  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the 
secret  ambition  of  the  average  infantryman  at 
duty,  when  he  has  relinquished  all  hope  of  pro- 
motion, is  to  get  on  the  staff. 


CHAPTER   V 

CAVALRY 

PRACTICALLY  any  man  of  the  twenty-eight 
cavalry  regiments  of  the  Hne  will  announce  with 
pride  that  he  belongs  to  the  "  right  of  the  line." 
By  this  claim  is  meant  that  if  the  British  Army 
were  formed  up  in  line,  the  regiment  for  which 
the  claim  is  made  will  be  on  the  right  of  all  the 
rest.  As  a  matter  of  fact  this  claim  on  the  part 
of  the  cavalryman  is  incorrect,  for  when  the  Royal 
Horse  Artillery  parade  with  their  guns,  they  take 
precedence  of  all  other  units,  except  the  Household 
Cavalry. 

British  cavalry  is  divided  normally  into  three 
regiments  of  Household  Cavalry  and  twenty-eight 
cavalry  regiments  of  the  line.  These  latter  are 
subdivided  into  seven  regiments  of  Dragoon  Guards, 
three  of  Dragoons,  and  eighteen  regiments  of  Lancers 
and  Hussars.  Theoretically,  Lancers  take  pre- 
cedence over  Hussars,  but  in  actual  practice  the 
two  classes  of  cavalry  are  about  equal.  Dragoon 
Guards   and   Dragoons   rank  as   heavy   cavalry ; 

76 


CAVALRY  77 

Lancers  are  supposed  to  be  of  medium  weight,  and 
Hussars  light  cavalry.  In  reality  Dragoon  Guards 
and  Dragoons  are  slightly  heavier  than  other 
corps — except  the  Household  Cavalry,  who  are 
heaviest  of  all — but  Lancers  and  Hussars  are  of 
about  equal  weight,  both  as  regards  horses  and 
men. 

The  possession  of  a  horse  and  the  duties  involved 
thereby  render  the  work  of  a  cavalryman  vastly 
different  from  that  of  an  infantryman.  In  the 
matter  of  guard  duties,  for  instance,  it  would  be 
possible  in  time  of  peace  to  abolish  all  infantry 
guard  duties  without  affecting  the  well-being  of 
the  units  concerned.  In  cavalry  regiments,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  a  certain 
number  of  men  should  be  placed  on  night  guard 
over  the  stables,  since  horses  are  capable  of  doing 
themselves  a  good  deal  of  harm  in  the  course  of  a 
night,  if  left  to  themselves.  This  is  only  one 
instance  of  the  difference  between  cavalry  and 
infantry,  but  it  must  be  apparent  to  the  most 
superficial  observer  that  a  vast  difference  exists 
between  the  two  arms  of  the  service. 

Cavalrymen  affect  to  despise  the  infantry,  whom 
they  term  "  foot  sloggers  "  and  "  beetle  crushers," 
while  various  other  uncomplimentary  epithets  are 
also  applied  at  times  to  the  men  who  walk  while  the 


78  CAVALRY 

cavalry  ride.  Each  section  of  the  cavalry  has  its 
own  particular  prides  and  prejudices.  The  House- 
hold Cavalry,  for  instance,  consider  themselves 
entitled  to  look  down  on  the  regiments  of  the  line  ; 
line  cavalrymen,  conversely,  affect  to  despise  the 
men  of  the  Household  Brigade,  who,  they  say, 
count  it  a  hardship  to  go  to  Windsor  and  never 
get  nearer  to  foreign  service  than  Aldershot. 
Further,  a  Dragoon  Guard  considers  himself 
immensely  superior  to  a  mere  Dragoon ;  both 
look  down — a  long  way  down — on  the  thought  of 
service  in  the  Lancers,  and  all  three  affect  to 
despise  the  idea  of  serving  as  Hussars.  In  the 
meantime  the  Hussars  declare  that  Dragoons  are 
big,  heavy,  and  useless,  while  Lancers  are  not 
much  better,  and  the  Hussar  is  the  only  perfect 
cavalryman.  All  this,  however,  is  a  matter  of 
good-humoured  chaff,  and  in  reality  Dragoons  and 
Lancers,  or  Dragoons  and  Hussars,  or  any  two 
regiments  belonging  to  different  branches  of  the 
cavalry,  when  placed  side  by  side  in  the  same 
station,  respect  each  other's  qualities  without 
undue  regard  to  their  particular  designations. 

Among  the  many  little  legends  and  traditions  of 
the  cavalry,  that  attaching  to  the  Carabiniers 
(Sixth  Dragoon  Guards)  is  as  interesting  as  any, 
though  not  a  particularly  creditable  one.      It   is 


CAVALRY  79 

alleged  that  some  time  during  the  Peninsular 
Campaign  this  regiment  misbehaved  itself  in  some 
way,  and  the  sentence  passed  on  it  was  to  the 
effect  that  officers  and  men  alike  should  no  longer 
wear  the  red  tunic  common  to  Dragoon  and  Dragoon 
Guard  regiments.  Thenceforth  a  blue  tunic  was 
substituted  for  the  more  brilliant  red,  and  in 
addition  a  mocking  tune  was  substituted  for  the 
ordinary  cavalry  re veill6,  while  the  band  was  ordered 
to  play  before  reveille  each  morning — possibly  the 
band  was  guilty  of  exceptionally  bad  behaviour  in 
order  to  merit  this  extra -special  punishment.  In 
any  case  the  blue  tunic,  the  reveille  and  the  band- 
playing  have  persisted  unto  this  day,  and  even  yet 
it  is  unsafe  to  inquire  too  closely  of  a  Carabinier 
into  the  reason  of  his  wearing  a  blue  tunic  while 
all  others  of  his  kind  wear  red,  although  the  regi- 
ment elected  to  retain  the  blue  tunic  when  a 
further  change  of  colour  was  proposed. 

Another  tradition  is  that  of  the  11th  Hussars, 
who  on  one  historical  occasion  were  supposed  to 
have  covered  themselves  in  gore  and  glory  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  original  colour  of  their  uniforms, 
and  especially  that  of  their  riding-breeches,  was  no 
longer  visible.  For  this  meritorious  feat,  which  is 
more  or  less  authentic,  the  regiment  was  granted  the 
privilege  of  wearing  cherry-coloured  riding-breeches 


80  CAVALRY 

and  overalls,  and  this  privilege,  like  the  Carabi- 
niers'  blue  jacket,  still  survives.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  add  that  the  "  Cherry -picker,"  as  the 
11th  Hussar  names  himself,  is  considerably  prouder 
of  his  cherry-coloured  pants  than  is  the  Carabinier 
of  his  jacket.  A  different  explanation  of  the  colour 
is  that  it  was  adopted  in  honour  of  the  Prince 
Consort,  and  since  the  regiment  still  retains  as  its 
title  ''The  Prince  Consort's  Own,"  the  latter  is 
more  probably  correct. 

From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  service  the 
cavalryman  never  gets  quite  clear  of  riding  school. 
Riding-school  work  forms  the  chief  portion  of  his 
training  as  a  recruit,  when  he  is  taught  to  ride 
both  with  and  without  stirrups,  to  take  jumps  with 
folded  arms,  to  vault  on  to  a  horse's  back,  and,  in 
brief,  to  do  all  that  can  be  done  with  a  horse. 
Supposing  him  to  be  an  average  horseman,  he 
comes  back  to  riding  school  annually,  at  least,  to 
refresh  his  memory  with  the  old  riding  -  school 
lessons,  while,  if  he  is  a  really  good  horseman,  he 
is  set  to  training  remounts,  in  the  course  of  which 
he  has  to  train  practically  unbroken  horses  to  do 
their  part  in  the  work  which  he  himself  has  learned 
on  the  back  of  a  horse  already  trained.  The  best 
riders  of  all  in  a  regiment  are  singled  out  as  "  rough 
riders  "  or  riding-school  instructors,  and  their  duty 


CAVALRY  81 

is  to  take  charge  of  rides  of  remounts,  to  instruct 
men  and  horses  too,  and  to  pay  particular  attention 
to  the  breaking  in  of  especially  unmanageable 
young  horses. 

The  riding-school  training  adopted  in  the  British 
cavalry  is  based  on  the  system  inaugurated  by 
Baucher,  the  famous  French  riding-master  who 
came  over  to  England  and  revolutionised  all  ideas 
with  regard  to  horsemastership  in  the  early  part 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  Under  this  system  a 
horse  is  taught  to  obey  pressure  of  leg  and  rein  to 
the  fullest  possible  extent,  and  the  bit  mouthpiece 
forms  only  a  part  of  the  rider's  means  of  control. 
By  this  means  the  horse  is  saved  a  good  deal  of 
unnecessary  exertion,  which  is  an  important  thing 
as  far  as  cavalry  riding  is  concerned,  since  the 
object  of  the  cavalryman  on  active  service  is  to 
save  his  horse  as  far  as  possible  against  the  need 
for  speed  or  effective  striking  power. 

Following  on  the  work  of  the  riding  school  the 
cavalryman  is  taught  on  the  drill  ground  to  ride  in 
line  of  troop  at  close  order.  Theoretically  the  in- 
terval between  men  is  "  six  inches  from  knee  to 
knee,"  but  in  practice  the  knees  of  the  men  are 
touching.  When  a  troop  of  men  can  keep  line 
perfectly  at  a  gallop,  a  squadron  line  is  formed  ; 
the  culminating  point  of  cavalry  training  is  per- 


Si  CAVALRY 

fection  of  line  in  the  charge,  of  which  the  rate  of 
progression  is  the  fastest  pace  of  the  slowest  horse. 
A  charge  produces  its  greatest  effect  when  the  men 
ride  close  together  and  keep  in  line,  the  object 
being  to  effect  a  definite  shock  by  throwing  as 
much  weight  as  possible  against  a  given  point  at 
as  great  a  pace  as  possible.  The  impact  of  the 
charge,  in  theory,  carries  the  men  who  make  it 
through  and  beyond  the  enemy  against  whom  they 
have  charged,  when  they  are  expected  to  break  up 
their  formation  and  re-form,  facing  in  the  direction 
from  whence  they  have  come. 

The  training  which  a  man  has  to  undergo  in 
order  to  fit  him  for  participating  in  these  shock 
tactics  is  necessarily  long  and  severe.  In  addition 
to  this,  cavalry  training  is  directed  toward  a  multi- 
plicity of  ends.  In  any  military  action  infantry 
have  their  definite  place,  which  involves  bearing 
the  full  brunt  of  attack,  maintaining  the  defensive, 
or  in  exceptional  circumstances  assuming  the 
offensive  and  charging  with  the  bayonet.  Cavalry, 
however,  very  rarely  bear  the  full  brunt  of  a  sus- 
tained attack,  as  their  organisation  and  equipment 
render  them  unfit  for  prolonged  defensive  opera- 
tions. They  are  used,  generally  on  the  flanks  of 
a  field  force,  for  making  flank  attacks  and  pursuing 
retreating  enemies  ;    they  are  also  used  in  smal 


CAVALRY  83 

bodies,  known  as  patrols,  as  the  eyes  and  ears  of 
an  army.  Preceding  other  arms  of  the  service  in 
the  advance,  they  spy  out  and  bring  back  informa- 
tion of  the  position  and  strength  of  the  enemy, 
avoiding  actual  contact  as  far  as  possible.  Work 
of  this  kind  calls  for  such  initiative  and  self- 
reliance  on  the  part  of  the  rank  and  file  as  infantry- 
men are  seldom  called  on  to  exercise. 

Further,  all  cavalrymen  are  expected  to  be  as 
proficient  in  the  use  of  the  rifle  as  are  infantrymen, 
while  they  have  also  to  learn  the  use  of  the  sword, 
and  Lancers  still  carry  and  use  the  lance,  which, 
carried  by  a  certain  proportion  of  the  men  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Dragoon  Guards  and  Dragoons  at  the 
the  end  of  the  last  and  beginning  of  the  present 
century,  is  no  longer  used  by  them.  It  will  be 
seen  from  the  foregoing  that  a  properly  trained 
cavalryman  must  be  a  thoroughly  intelligent  in- 
dividual, and  must  be  capable  of  greater  initiative 
and  possessed  of  more  resource  than  his  brother 
on  foot.  In  many  directions,  also,  he  is  required 
to  exercise  more  initiative  than  the  artilleryman, 
who  is  always  protected  by  an  escort  either  of 
cavalry  or  infantry,  and  is  called  on  to  think  for 
himself  and  work  the  gun  himself  only  when  all 
his  officers  and  non-commissioned  officers  have 
been  shot  to  stillness. 


84  CAVALRY 

At  first  sight  it  would  appear  that  the  Lancer  has 
an  immense  advantage  over  the  man  armed  only 
with  a  sword,  but  in  actual  practice  the  man  with 
the  sword  is  slightly  better  off ;  the  Lancer  gets  one 
effective  thrust,  but,  if  this  is  parried  or  misses  its 
object,  the  man  with  the  sword  can  get  in  two  or 
three  thrusts  before  the  Lancer  has  the  chance  for 
another  blow.  Thus  Dragoons  and  Dragoon  Guards 
lose  little  by  the  absence  of  the  lance,  since  they, 
in  common  with  all  other  cavalry  regiments,  still 
carry  the  sword.  The  American  Army,  by  the  way, 
is  the  only  one  so  far  which  has  tried  the  experiment 
of  arming  the  rank  and  file  of  its  mounted  units 
with  revolvers  or  pistols  ;  in  the  British  Army 
revolvers  are  carried  only  by  sergeants  and  those 
of  higher  rank,  and  the  rank  and  file  trust  to  cold 
steel  for  mounted  work,  reserving  the  rifles  which 
they  carry  for  use  on  foot. 

The  bane  of  the  cavalryman's  life  in  his  own 
opinion  is  stables,  where  he  spends  about  four 
hours  each  day  in  grooming,  cleaning,  sweeping 
out,  taking  out  bedding  and  bringing  it  in,  and 
various  other  duties.  Grooming  in  a  cavalry  regi- 
ment is  a  meticulous  business  ;  the  writer  has 
personal  knowledge  of  and  acquaintance  with  a 
troop  officer  who  used  to  make  his  morning  inspec- 
tion of  the  troop  horses  with  white  kid  gloves  on, 


CAVALRY  85 

and  the  horses  were  supposed  to  be  groomed  to 
such  a  state  of  cleanliness  that  when  the  officer 
rubbed  the  skin  the  wrong  way  his  gloves  remained 
unsoiled.  Such  a  state  of  perfection  as  this,  of 
course,  is  possible  only  in  barracks,  and  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  that  the  officer  in  question  was 
not  exactly  idolised  by  his  men.  Like  most  youths 
fresh  from  Sandhurst,  he  was  incapable  of  making 
allowances. 

On  manoeuvres  and  under  canvas  generally, 
grooming  is  not  expected  to  be  carried  to  such  a 
fine  point  as  this  ;  on  active  service  it  frequently 
happens  that  there  is  no  time  at  all  for  grooming ; 
but  the  general  rule  is  to  keep  horses  in  such  a 
state  of  cleanliness  as  will  avert  disease  and  assist 
in  keeping  the  animals  in  condition.  During  the 
South  African  war  it  was  found  that  grey  and  white 
horses  were  dangerously  conspicuous,  and  animals 
of  this  colour  were  consequently  painted  khaki. 
It  is  not  many  years  since  a  proposal  was  made 
that  the  2nd  Dragoons,  known  in  the  service  as  the 
Scots  Greys,  from  the  nationality  of  the  men  and 
the  colour  of  the  horses,  should  have  their  grey 
horses  taken  from  them  and  darker  coloured 
animals  substituted.  From  the  time  of  the  found- 
ing of  this  regiment  its  men  have  been  proud  of 
their  greys,  and  the  order  necessitating  their  dis- 


86  CAVALRY 

appearance  caused  a  certain  amount  of  outcry,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  modern  mihtary  conditions 
rendered  the  substitution  desirable.  Regimental 
traditions  die  hard,  and  the  Scots  Greys  elected  to 
remain  "  Greys  "  in  reality,  while  they  will  retain 
their  name  as  long  as  the  regiment  exists. 

The  cavalryman,  far  more  than  the  infantryman, 
makes  a  point  of  wearing  "  posh  "  clothing  on 
every  possible  occasion — "  posh  "  being  a  term 
used  to  designate  superior  clothing,  or  articles  of 
attire  other  than  those  issued  by  and  strictly  con- 
forming to  the  regulations.  For  walking  out  in 
town,  a  business  commonly  known  as  "  square- 
pushing,"  the  cavalryman  who  fancies  himself  will 
be  found  in  superfine  cloth  overalls,  wearing  nickel 
spurs  instead  of  the  regulation  steel  pair,  and  with 
light,  thin-soled  boots  instead  of  the  Wellingtons 
with  which  he  is  issued.  It  is  a  commonplace  among 
the  infantry  that  a  cavalryman  spends  half  his  pay 
and  more  on  "  posh  "  clothing,  but  probably  the 
accusation  is  a  little  unjust. 

There  is  in  the  cavalry  a  greater  percentage  of 
gentleman  rankers  than  in  any  other  branch  of  the 
service,  and  there  are  more  queer  histories  attach- 
ing to  men  in  cavalry  regiments  than  in  units  of 
the  other  arms.  The  gentleman  ranker  usually 
shakes  down  to  a  level  with  the  rest  of  the  regiment. 


CAVALRY  87 

It  has  never  yet  come  within  the  writer's  know- 
ledge that  any  officer  accorded  to  a  gentleman 
ranker  different  treatment  from  that  enjoyed  by 
the  majority  of  the  men,  in  spite  of  the  assertions 
of  melodrama  writers  on  the  subject.  Favouritism 
in  the  cavalry,  as  in  any  branch  of  the  service,  is 
fatal  to  discipline,  and  is  not  indulged  in  to  any  great 
extent,  certainly  not  to  the  benefit  of  gentlemen 
rankers  as  a  whole.  Work  and  efficiency  stand 
first ;  social  position  in  civilian  life  counts  for 
nothing,  and  the  gentleman  ranker  who  joins  the 
service  with  a  view  to  a  commission  must  prove 
himself  fitted  to  hold  it  from  a  military  point  of 
view. 

The  gentleman  ranker  is  frequently  a  remittance 
man,  and  in  that  case  he  is  certain  of  many  friends, 
for  the  frequenters  of  the  canteen  are  usually  short 
of  money  a  day  or  two  before  pay-day  comes  round, 
and  thus  the  man  with  a  well-lined  pocket  is  of 
material  use  to  them.  Disinterested  friendships, 
however,  are  too  common  in  the  Army  to  call  for 
comment,  and  many  and  many  a  case  occurs  of 
one  cavalryman,  quick  at  his  work,  helping  another 
at  cleaning  saddlery  or  equipment  after  he  has 
finished  his  own,  without  thought  or  hope  of 
reward. 

The  mention  of  saddlery  takes  us  back  to  stables. 


88  CAVALRY 

where  the  cavalryman  goes  far  too  often  for  his 
own  peace  of  mind,  although,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  three  stable  parades  per  day  which  he  has  to 
undergo  are  absolutely  necessary  for  the  well-being 
of  the  horses.  The  really  smart  cavalryman  is 
conspicuous  not  only  for  keeping  his  horse  in 
exceptionally  good  condition,  but  also  for  the  way 
in  which  he  keeps  the  leather  and  steel- work  of  his 
saddle  and  head-dress.  Regulations  enact  that  all 
steel-work  in  the  stables  shall  be  kept  free  from 
rust,  and  slightly  oiled,  and  leather-work  shall  be 
cleaned  and  kept  in  condition  with  soft  soap  and 
dubbin  only.  This  regulation,  however,  is  honoured 
in  the  breach  rather  than  in  the  observance,  for 
by  the  use  of  brick-dust  followed  by  the  application 
of  a  steel-link  burnisher  steel-work  is  given  the 
appearance  of  brilliantly  polished  silver,  and 
various  patent  compositions  are  used  on  leather  to 
give  it  a  glossy  surface,  this  latter  with  very  little 
regard  for  the  preservation  of  the  leather.  All  this 
means  a  lot  of  extra  work  in  the  stable  for  the 
cavalryman  ;  it  is  induced  in  the  first  place  by  one 
man  desiring  to  give  his  outfit  a  better  appearance 
than  the  rest.  The  squadron  officer  approves  of 
the  polish  and  brilliance — or  perhaps  the  troop 
officer  is  responsible — and  as  a  result  all  the  men 
take  up  what  is  merely  extra  work  with  no  real 


CAVALRY  89 

resulting  advantage.  In  some  extra-smart  units 
the  men  are  even  required  by  their  superiors  to 
scrub  the  stable  wheelbarrows  and  burnish  the 
forks  used  for  turning  over  the  bedding,  but  this, 
it  must  be  confessed,  is  not  a  general  practice.  At 
the  same  time,  the  fetish  of  polish  and  burnish  is 
worshipped  far  too  well  in  cavalry  units,  with  the 
occasional  result  that  efficiency  takes  second  place 
in  time  of  peace  to  mere  surface  smartness. 

As  has  already  been  stated  in  a  different  connec- 
tion, the  barrack-room  life  of  the  cavalryman  is 
easier  than  that  of  the  infantryman.  Kit  inspec- 
tions and  arms  inspections  take  place  at  stated 
intervals,  and  barrack -rooms  are  kept  clean, 
though  not  kept  with  such  fussy  exactness  as  in 
infantry  units.  The  trained  cavalryman  in  normal 
times  finishes  the  main  part  of  his  work  at  midday. 
He  then  has  his  dinner,  and  after  this  makes  down 
his  bed  as  it  will  be  for  the  night.  Unless  it  is  his 
turn  for  fatigue,  he  generally  snoozes  through  the 
afternoon  until  about  half-past  four,  when  it  is 
time  to  get  ready  for  stable  parade.  In  India 
especially  a  cavalryman  has  a  light  time  of  it,  for 
there  is  allotted  to  each  squadron  a  definite  num- 
ber of  syces,  or  native  grooms,  who  assist  the  men  as 
well  as  the  non-commissioned  officers  in  the  care 
of  their  horses,  and  who  do  a  good  deal  of  the  neces- 


90  CAVALRY 

sary  saddle-cleaning.  Cavalry  serving  in  Egypt 
also  get  a  certain  amount  of  assistance  in  their 
work,  and,  on  the  whole,  a  cavalryman  is  far  better 
off  on  foreign  service  than  he  is  in  a  home  station. 
The  advantages  of  the  home  station  consist  mainly 
in  the  presence  of  congenial  society  among  the 
civilians  of  the  station.  The  soldier  abroad  is  a 
being  apart,  and  for  the  most  part  civilians  leave 
him  very  much  alone.  There  remains,  however, 
the  ever-present  football  by  way  of  consolation. 

As  in  infantry  units,  bodies  of  signallers  and 
scouts  are  necessary  to  the  establishment  of  every 
cavalry  regiment.  Signallers,  for  the  period  of 
their  training,  are  excused  from  all  duties  connected 
with  horses  and  stable  work.  Cavalry  scouts,  on 
the  other  hand,  have  to  use  their  horses  in  the  course 
of  their  training,  and  thus  attend  stables  like  the 
rest  of  the  men,  although  stable  discipline  in  their 
case  is  somewhat  relaxed.  The  cavalry  scout 
requires  more  training  than  the  infantry  scout ; 
with  his  horse  he  is  able  to  go  farther  afield,  and 
his  work  is  more  definitely  that  of  reconnaissance 
and  the  obtaining  of  information  which  may  be  of 
more  use  to  a  brigade  or  divisional  commander 
than  that  any  infantryman  is  capable  of  obtaining 
without  a  horse  to  carry  him. 

To  his  other  accomplishments  the  cavalryman 


CAVALRY  91 

is  expected  to  add  some  slight  knowledge  of 
veterinary  matters,  in  order  that,  when  forced  to 
depend  on  himself  and  his  horse,  he  can  find 
remedies  for  simple  ailments,  and  keep  the  horse 
in  a  state  of  fitness.  The  shoeing-smith  and  farriers 
who  form  a  special  department  of  every  cavalry 
regiment  are  under  the  control  of  the  veterinary 
officer  included  in  the  establishment  of  each  cavalry 
unit,  and  the  veterinary  officer  constitutes  the 
final  court  of  appeal  when  anything  affecting  a 
"  long-faced  chum  "  is  in  question. 

Sufficient  has  been  said  about  the  cavalryman 
on  duty  to  show  that  his  tasks  are  legion.  His 
fitness  to  perform  them  has  been  attested  on  recent 
battlefields  as  well  as  on  earlier  historic  occasions. 
Off  duty  and  in  time  of  peace  he  is,  in  the  main, 
a  fairly  pleasant  fellow,  often  a  very  shy  one,  and 
usually  capable  of  using  the  King's  English  in 
reasonable  fashion.  The  average  cavalryman  has 
a  sufficiency  of  aspirates,  and,  in  the  matter  of 
intelligence,  the  nature  of  the  duties  he  is  called 
upon  to  perform  voices  his  claims  quite  sufficiently. 


CHAPTER    VI 

ARTILLERY   AND    ENGINEERS 

npHE  Royal  Artillery  of  the  British  Army  is 
-■-  divided  into  three  branches,  known  re- 
spectively as  Horse,  Field,  and  Garrison  Artillery. 
In  normal  times  the  Royal  Horse  Artillery  consists 
of  some  twenty-eight  batteries,  distinguished  by  the 
letters  of  the  alphabet,  together  with  a  depot  and 
a  riding  establishment.  On  parade  the  Horse 
Artillery  batteries  take  precedence  of  all  other 
units,  with  the  exception  of  Household  Cavalry. 
The  Royal  Field  Artillery  consists  of  150  batteries 
and  four  depots,  and  the  Royal  Garrison  Artillery 
consists  of  100  companies  and  nine  mountain 
batteries. 

"  A  "  Battery  of  the  Royal  Horse  is  officially 
designated  the  "  Chestnut"  troop,  from  the  colour 
of  its  horses,  and  the  Horse  Artillery  as  a  whole  is 
one  of  the  few  corps  of  the  service  which  retains 
the  stable  jacket  for  parade  use.  In  the  case  of 
the  R.H.  A.  this  garment  is  of  dark  blue  with  yellow 
braid,  and  the  head-dress  of  the  horse  gunner  is 

92 


ARTILLERY  AND   ENGINEERS        93 

a  busby  with  white  plume  and  scarlet  busby-bag, 
similar  to  that  of  the  Hussars.  The  Field  and 
Garrison  Artillery  wear  tunics  in  full  dress,  and 
their  helmets  are  surmounted  by  a  ball  instead  of 
a  spike. 

While  the  weapon  of  the  Field  Artillery  is  the 
18i-pounder  quick-firing  gun,  and  gunners  ride  on 
the  gun  and  limber,  the  R.H.A.  is  armed  with  the 
13-pounder  quick-firing  gun,  and  its  gunners  are 
mounted  on  horseback.  The  object  of  this  is  to 
obtain  extreme  mobility.  The  Royal  Horse  are 
expected  to  be  able  to  execute  all  their  manoeuvres 
at  a  gallop,  and  to  get  into  and  out  of  action  more 
quickly  than  the  Field  Artillery.  They  are  designed 
specially  to  accompany  cavalry  in  flying-column 
work  ;  their  mobility  is  only  achieved  by  a  sacrifice 
of  weight  in  the  projectile  which  the  gun  throws, 
and  they  are  only  expected  to  hold  a  position  sup- 
ported by  cavalry  until  the  heavier  guns  come 
into  play.  The  horse  gunners  may  be  regarded  as 
the  scouts  of  the  artillery,  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
cavalry  are  the  scouts  of  the  whole  army. 

Since,  in  the  Royal  Horse,  gunners  as  well  as 
drivers  are  mounted,  the  number  of  horses  to  a 
battery  is  greater  than  in  the  Field  Artillery,  and 
work  is  consequently  harder.  Officers  of  the  Royal 
Horse  are  specially  selected  from  the  R.F.A.,  to 


94        ARTILLERY   AND    ENGINEERS 

which  they  return  on  promotion,  and  the  rank  and 
file  are  picked  men,  chosen  for  physique  and 
smartness.  It  is  a  maxim  of  the  service  that  the 
work  of  the  R.H.A.  is  never  done,  and  when  one 
takes  into  account  the  fact  that  gunners  have  a 
horse  and  saddle  apiece  to  care  for  as  well  as  their 
gun,  while  drivers  have  two  horses  and  two  sets 
of  harness  apiece  to  keep  in  condition,  it  will  be 
seen  that  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  truth  in  the 
statement.  In  old  times,  when  field-day  and 
manoeuvre  parades  were  carried  through  in  review 
order,  the  horse  gunner  was  eternally  in  debt  over 
the  matter  of  the  yellow  braid  with  which  his 
stable  jacket  is  adorned,  for  these  jackets  are 
particularly  difficult  to  keep  clean.  The  general 
adoption  of  service  dress  for  working  parade  has 
neutralised  this  disability.  The  horse  gunner  of 
to-day  is  a  very  good  soldier  indeed  in  every  respect, 
both  by  real  aptitude  for  his  work  and  by  com- 
pulsion. 

Not  that  the  men  of  the  Field  Artillery  are  not 
equally  good  soldiers,  for  they  are.  The  Field 
Artillery,  however,  divides  itself  naturally  into 
two  branches,  drivers  and  gunners.  Each  driver 
has  two  horses  and  two  sets  of  harness  to  manage, 
and,  if  the  cavalryman  has  reason  to  grouse  at  the 
length  of  time  he  spends  at  stables,  the  driver 


ARTILLERY   AND    ENGINEERS        95 

of  the  "  Field  "  has  more  than  four  times  as  much 
reason  to  grouse.  Moreover,  the  cavalryman  is 
permitted  to  clean  his  saddlery  during  the  official 
stable  hour,  but  drivers  of  the  R.F.A.  are  expected 
to  concentrate  their  attention  on  their  horses 
during  the  time  that  they  are  officially  at  stables  ; 
they  can  stay  in  the  stables  and  get  their  sets  of 
harness  cleaned  and  fit  for  inspection  in  their  own 
time.  They  are  then  at  liberty  to  clean  up  their 
own  personal  equipment,  and,  until  the  turn  for 
guard  comes  round,  have  the  rest  of  their  time  to 
themselves. 

Gunners  of  the  R.F.A.  have  all  their  time  taken 
up  by  the  care  of  the  gun,  its  fittings  and  appoint- 
ments, as  well  as  by  the  various  separate  instruments 
connected  with  the  use  of  a  gun.  For  instance,  all 
arms  of  the  service  possess  and  make  use  of  range- 
finding  instruments,  known  as  mekometers,  but 
in  the  artillery  the  mekometer  is  a  larger  and 
more  complicated  affair,  for  the  range  of  the  gun  is 
several  times  greater  than  that  of  the  rifle,  and 
range  finding  is  consequently  a  far  more  complex 
business.  The  simple  gunner  must  understand 
this,  just  as  he  must  understand  the  business  of 
*'  laying  "  or  adjusting  the  sights  of  the  gun  to  the 
required  range,  the  use  of  telescopic  sights,  the 
delicate    mechanism    of    the.   breech  -  block,    the 


96        ARTILLERY  AND    ENGINEERS 

method  of  putting  the  gun  out  of  action  or 
rendering  it  useless  in  ease  of  emergency,  and  a 
hundred  and  one  other  things  which  involve 
really  complicated  technical  knowledge,  and  lie  in 
the  province  of  the  commissioned  officer  rather 
than  in  that  of  a  private  soldier.  The  reason  for 
teaching  these  things  to  the  private  soldier  lies  in 
the  accumulated  experience  which  shows  that  on 
many  occasions  all  the  officers  and  non-com- 
missioned officers  of  a  battery  have  been  blown  to 
pieces  by  the  enemy's  fire,  and  there  have  remained 
only  a  few  private  soldiers  to  do  their  own  work 
and  that  of  their  officers  as  well.  It  is  to  the  eternal 
credit  of  the  Army,  and  especially  to  that  of  the 
artillery,  that  men  thus  placed  have  never  once 
failed  to  do  their  duty  nobly,  and  the  present  war 
has  already  afforded  more  than  one  instance  of 
single  men  sticking  to  their  guns  to  the  last. 
Desertion  of  the  guns  has  never  yet  been  charged 
against  British  artillery,  nor  is  it  ever  likely  to  be. 
Field  -  guns  are  always  accompanied  by  an 
escort,  sometimes  of  cavalry,  but  more  often  of 
infantry,  for  the  gunner  is  admittedly  helpless 
against  infantry  at  close  range  or  against  charging 
cavalry.  The  charge  of  the  Light  Brigade  at 
Balaclava  forms  an  instance  of  what  cavalry  can 
do  against  unescorted  guns,  and,  though  the  pattern 


ARTILLERY  AND  ENGINEERS         97 

of  gun  in  use  has  changed  for  the  better,  the  pro- 
jectile being  far  more  powerful,  and  the  number  of 
shells  per  minute  far  greater,  such  feats  as  that  of 
the  immortal  Light  Brigade  are  still  within  the 
range  of  possibility. 

The  business  of  the  gunner  in  an  army  assuming 
the  offensive  is  to  open  the  attack.  The  fuse  of  the 
shrapnel  shell  is  so  timed  that  the  missile,  which 
contains  a  quantity  of  bullets  and  a  bursting 
charge  of  powder,  shall  explode  immediately  over 
the  position  held  by  the  enemy.  When  a  sufficient 
number  of  shells  have  been  fired  to  weaken  resist- 
ance, the  infantry  advance  in  order  to  drive  the 
enemy  from  the  chosen  position.  In  defensive 
action  the  use  of  the  gun  lies  in  retarding  the 
advance  of  the  enemy,  and  inflicting  as  much  damage 
as  possible  before  rifles  and  machine-guns  can  come 
into  play. 

For  this  business  ranges  must  be  taken  swiftly 
and  accurately.  Loading  must  be  performed 
expeditiously,  and,  though  the  pneumatic  recoil 
of  the  modern  field-gun  renders  it  far  less  liable 
to  shift  in  action,  the  sights  must  be  correctly 
aligned  after  each  shot.  A  gun  crew  must  work 
swiftly  and  without  confusion,  and  peace  training 
is  devoted  to  attaining  that  quickness  and  thorough 
efficiency  which  renders  a  battery  formidable  in  war. 


98        ARTILLERY  AND   ENGINEERS 

There  is,  perhaps,  less  show  about  the  work  of  a 
gunner  than  in  that  of  any  other  arm  of  the  service 
with  the  exception  of  the  Royal  Engineers.  A 
good  bit  of  his  work  is  extremely  dirty  ;  cleaning 
a  gun,  for  instance,  after  firing  practice  with 
smokeless  powder,  is  a  hopelessly  messy  business, 
and  the  infantryman,  who  pulls  his  rifle  through 
and  extracts  the  fouling  in  about  five  minutes, 
would  feel  sorry  for  himself  if  he  were  called  on  to 
share  in  the  work  of  cleaning  the  bore  of  an 
18 1 -pounder  after  firing  practice.  There  is  a 
considerable  amount  of  drill  of  a  complicated 
nature  which  the  field-gunner  has  to  learn  in 
addition  to  ordinary  foot-drill ;  there  is  all  the 
mechanism  of  the  gun  to  be  understood  ;  there 
are  courses  in  range-finding,  gun-laying,  signalling, 
and  other  things,  and  on  the  whole  it  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  it  takes  at  least  five  years  to  render  a  field 
gunner  thoroughly  conversant  with  his  work.  The 
finished  article  is  rather  a  business-like  man, 
quieter  as  a  rule  in  his  ways  than  his  fellows  in  the 
cavalry  and  infantry,  rather  serious,  and  little 
given  to  boasting  about  the  excellence  of  service 
in  the  Royal  Field  Artillery.  He  knows  his  worth 
and  that  of  his  arm  too  well  to  waste  breath  in 
declaring  them. 

The  driver  of  the  Field  Artillery  has  even  more 


ARTILLERY  AND  ENGINEERS         99 

of  riding-school  work  to  do  than  the  average 
cavalryman.  It  would  be  idle  to  say  that  he  is  a 
better  rider,  for  the  average  cavalryman  is  as  good 
a  rider  as  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  be.  Artillery 
horses,  however,  are  heavy  and  unhandy  compared 
with  cavalry  mounts,  and  the  driver  has  not  only 
to  drive  the  horse  he  rides,  but  has  also  to  lead  and 
control  the  horse  abreast  of  his  own.  The  principal 
responsibility  for  the  path  which  the  gun  takes  lies 
with  the  lead  or  foremost  driver,  though  almost 
as  much  responsibility  is  entailed  on  the  man 
controlling  the  wheel  or  rearmost  horses,  and, 
compared  with  these  two,  the  centre  driver  has  an 
easy  time  of  it  in  mounted  drill  and  field  work. 

Notwithstanding  the  extremely  hard  work  to 
which  drivers  of  artillery  are  subjected,  the  same 
trouble  over  harness  as  obtains  over  cavalry 
saddlery  is  experienced  in  some  batteries.  "  Soft 
soap  and  oil  "  are  the  cleaning  materials  prescribed 
by  the  regulations,  but  certain  battery  com- 
manders enforce  the  use  of  steel-link  burnishers  on 
steel-work,  and  brilliant  polish  on  leather,  the  last- 
named  polish  being  obtained  by  the  use  of  a 
mysterious  combination  of  heel-ball,  turpentine, 
harness  composition,  and,  according  to  legend,  old 
soldiers'  breath.  The  mixture  is  known  among 
the  drivers  as  "  fake,"  and  "  fake  and  burnish  " 


100      ARTILLERY  AND  ENGINEERS 

is  synonymous  with  unending  work  in  the  stables. 
It  is  the  fetish  of  smartness,  a  misdirected  en- 
thusiasm, which  brings  things  Hke  this  to  pass  and 
inflicts  extra  work  on  men  whose  energies  should 
be  devoted  solely  to  the  attaining  of  fitness  for 
active  service,  where  "  fake  and  burnish  "  have 
no  place. 

The  Royal  Horse  and  Royal  Field  Artillery  are 
the  only  branches  of  the  service  in  which  sub- 
stantial prizes  are  given  annually  to  encourage 
men  in  their  work.  In  each  battery  three  money 
prizes  are  offered  for  competition  among  the 
drivers  ;  the  amounts  offered  are  substantial,  and 
the  general  result  is  a  spirit  of  healthy  emulation, 
though  far  too  often,  and  with  the  full  sanction  of 
the  battery  officer,  this  degenerates  into  the  "  fake 
and  burnish  "  craze.  This,  however,  is  not  the 
fault  of  the  prize-giving  system,  but  of  the  officers 
who  not  only  permit,  but  encourage  and  even 
order  this  unnecessary  work,  which,  while  entailing 
added  labour  on  the  men,  assists  in  the  deteriora- 
tion of  the  leather-work  in  harness.  For  all  leather- 
work  requires  constant  feeding  with  oil  in  order  to 
keep  it  fit  and  pliant,  while  the  "  fake  "  dries  the 
fibres  of  the  leather  and  starves  it,  rendering  it 
liable  to  cracking  and  perishing. 

The  branch  of  the  Artillery  of  which  least  is 


ARTILLERY  ANP  ENGINEERS       lOl 

heard  is  that  of  the  Royal  Garrison  Artillery,  whose 
hundred  companies  are  scattered  about  the  British 
Empire  in  obscure  corners,  engaged  in  the  work  of 
coast  defence  and  the  management  of  siege  guns. 
It  is  fortunate  for  the  garrison  gunners  that  they 
have  no  "  long-faced  chums  "  to  worry  about,  for 
they  are  admittedly  the  hardest-worked  branch  of 
the  service  as  it  is.  Gibraltar  houses  several 
companies  ;  you  will  find  some  of  them  managing 
the  big  guns  at  Dover,  and  at  every  protected  port. 
They  are  big  men,  all ;  strong  men,  and  lithe  and 
active,  for  their  work  involves  the  hauling  about 
of  heavy  weights,  combined  with  cat-like  quick- 
ness in  loading  and  firing  their  many-patterned 
charges.  The  horse  and  field  gunner  have  each  to 
learn  one  pattern  of  gun  thoroughly,  but  the 
garrison  gunner,  employed  almost  entirely  in 
garrisoning  defensive  fortifications,  has  to  learn 
the  use  of  half  a  hundred  patterns,  from  the  little 
one-pounder  quick-firer  to  the  big  gun  on  its 
disappearing  platform,  and  the  13'4-inch  siege-gun. 
The  horse  and  field  gunner  may  complete  their 
education  some  day,  for  the  pattern  of  field-gun 
changes  but  seldom,  and  the  present  pattern  is  not 
likely  to  be  improved  on  for  some  years  to  come. 
The  garrison  gunner,  however,  is  the  victim  of 
experiment,  for  every  new  gun  that  comes  out, 


102       ARTIIXERY  AND  ENGINEERS 

after  being  tested  and  passed  either  at  Lydd  or 
Shoeburyness,  is  handed  on  to  the  garrison  gunners 
for  use,  and  there  is  a  new  set  of  equipment  and 
mechanism  to  be  mastered.  In  order  to  ascertain 
the  quahty  of  their  work,  one  has  only  to  get  per- 
mission to  visit  the  nearest  fort,  when  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  guns  are  cared  for  like  babies,  nursed  and 
polished  and  covered  away  with  full  appreciation 
of  their  power  and  value. 

Garrison  gunners  suffer  from  worse  stations  than 
any  other  branch  of  the  service.  They  are  planted 
away  on  lonely  coast  stations  for  two  or  three  years 
at  a  time,  and  Aden,  the  bane  of  foreign  service  in 
the  infantryman's  estimation,  is  a  pleasant  place 
compared  with  some  which  garrison  gunners  are 
compelled  to  inhabit  for  a  period.  Lonely  islands 
in  the  West  Indies,  isolated  places  on  the  Indian  and 
African  coast,  forts  placed  far  away  from  contact 
with  civilians  in  the  British  Isles — all  these  fall 
to  the  lot  of  the  garrison  gunner,  and  the  nature  of 
his  work  is  such  that,  unlike  his  fellows  in  the  field 
and  horse  artillery,  he  gets  neither  infantry  nor 
cavalry  escort. 

Reckoned  in  with  the  Garrison  Artillery  are  the 
nine  Mountain  Batteries,  which,  organised  for 
service  on  such  hilly  country  as  is  provided  by  the 
Indian  frontier,  form  a  not  inconspicuous  part  of 


ARTILLERY  AND   ENGINEERS        103 

the  British  Army.  In  these  batteries  the  guns  are 
carried  in  sections  on  pack  animals  ;  Kipling  has 
immortaHsed  the  Mountain  Batteries  in  his  verses 
on  "  The  Screw  Guns,"  a  title  which  conveys  an 
allusion  to  the  fact  that  the  guns  of  the  Mountain 
Batteries  screw  and  fit  together  for  use.  The  use 
of  these  guns  can  be  but  local,  for  they  are  not 
sufficiently  mobile  to  oppose  to  ordinary  field- 
guns  on  level  ground,  nor  is  the  projectile  that  they 
throw  of  sufiRcient  weight  to  give  them  a  chance 
in  a  duel  with  field-guns.  They  are,  however, 
extremely  useful  things  for  the  purpose  for  which 
they  are  intended  ;  they  form  a  necessary  factor 
in  the  maintenance  of  order  on  the  north-west 
frontier  of  India,  and,  together  with  their  gun 
crews,  they  instil  a  certain  measure  of  respect  into 
the  turbulent  tribes  of  that  uneasy  land. 

A  consideration  of  the  various  branches  of  the 
service  would  be  incomplete  if  mention  of  the 
Royal  Engineers  were  omitted.  The  Engineers  are 
looked  on  as  a  sister  service  to  the  Royal  Artillery, 
and  consist  of  various  troops,  companies,  and 
Sections,  according  to  the  technical  work  they  are 
called  on  to  perform.  Thus  there  are  field  troops 
of  mounted  engineers  for  service  with  cavalry, 
field  companies  for  duty  with  the  field  army, 
fortress  companies  for  service  in  conjunction  with 


104      ARTILLERY  AND  ENGINEERS 

the  garrison  gunners,  balloon  sections  and  tele- 
graph sections  for  the  use  of  the  intelligence 
department,  and  pontoon  companies  for  field 
bridging  work.  Every  engineer  of  full  age  is 
expected  to  be  a  trained  tradesman  when  he 
enlists,  and  the  special  qualifications  demanded 
of  this  branch  of  the  service  are  acknowledged  by  a 
higher  rate  of  pay  than  that  accorded  to  any  other 
arm.  The  motto  of  the  Engineers,  "  Ubique,"  is 
fully  justified,  for  they  are  not  only  expected  to  be, 
but  are,  capable  of  every  class  of  work,  from  making 
a  pepper-caster  out  of  a  condensed-milk  tin  to 
throwing  across  a  river  a  bridge  capable  of  con- 
veying siege-guns.  There  is  no  end  to  their 
activities,  and  no  end  to  their  enterprise,  and  in 
the  opinion  of  many  the  Engineers,  oSicers  and 
men  alike,  are  the  most  capable  and  efficient  body 
of  men  in  any  branch  of  the  Government  service. 
Their  work  is  little  seen  ;  to  their  lot  falls  the 
task  of  constructing  the  barbed-wire  entangle- 
ments with  the  assistance  of  which  infantry 
battalions  can  put  up  a  magnificent  defence  against 
any  kind  of  attack  ;  the  Engineers  are  responsible 
for  the  construction  of  the  bridge  by  means  of 
which  the  cavalry  arrive  unexpectedly  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river  and  spoil  the  enemy's  plans 
by  getting  round  his  flank  ;    it  is  the  Engineers^ 


ARTILLERY  AND  ENGINEERS        105 

again,  who  repair  the  blown-up  railway  line  and 
permit  of  the  transport  of  trainloads  of  troops  to 
an  unexpected  point  of  vantage,  thus  again  up- 
setting the  plans  of  the  enemy.  One  hears  of  the 
magnificent  defence  maintained  by  the  infantry  ; 
one  hears  of  the  brilliant  exploits  of  the  cavalry  on 
the  flank  of  the  enemy  ;  one  hears  also  of  the  skill 
of  the  commander  who  moved  the  troops  with  such 
suddenness  and  disconcerted  his  enemy;  but  the 
work  of  the  Engineers,  who  made  these  things 
possible,  generally  goes  unrecognised  outside 
military  circles,  and  the  Engineers  themselves 
have  to  reap  their  satisfaction  out  of  the  know- 
ledofe  of  work  well  done. 


CHAPTER   VII 

IN   CAMP 

XN  going  to  camp,  transferring  from  the  solid 
-*-  shelter  of  barracks  to  the  more  doubtful 
comfort  of  crowding  under  a  canvas  roof,  the 
soldier  feels  that  he  is  getting  somewhere  near  the 
conditions  under  which  he  will  be  placed  on  active 
service.  The  pitching  of  camp,  especially  by  an 
infantry  battalion,  is  a  parade  movement,  and  as 
such  is  an  interesting  business.  It  begins  with 
the  laying  out  of  the  tents  in  their  bags,  and  the 
tent  poles  beside  them,  near  the  positions  which 
the  erected  tents  will  occupy.  The  bags  are 
emptied  of  their  contents  ;  men  are  told  oft  to 
poles,  guy  ropes,  mallets  and  pegs  ;  the  tents  are 
fully  unfolded,  and,  at  a  given  word  of  command, 
every  tent  goes  up  to  be  pegged  into  place  in  the 
shortest  possible  space  of  time.  At  the  beginning 
of  a  given  ten  minutes  there  will  be  lying  on 
otherwise  unoccupied  ground  rows  of  bags  and 
poles  ;  at  the  end  of  that  same  ten  minutes  a 
canvas  town  is  in  being,  and  the  men  who  are  to 

106 


IN    CAMP  107 

occupy  that  town  are  thinking  of  fetching  in  their 
kits. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances,  from  four  to 
eight  men  are  told  off  to  occupy  each  tent,  but  on 
manoeuvres  and  on  active  service  these  numbers 
are  exceeded  more  often  than  not.  During  the 
South  African  war  the  present  writer  once  had 
the  doubtful  pleasure  of  being  the  twenty-fourth 
man  in  an  ordinary  military  bell-tent.  The  next 
night  and  thereafter,  wet  or  fine,  half  the  men 
allotted  to  that  tent  made  a  point  of  sleeping  in 
the  open  air.    It  was  preferable. 

Life  in  camp  is  an  enjoyable  business  so  long  as 
the  weather  continues  fine  and  not  too  boisterous  ; 
discipline  is  relaxed  to  a  certain  extent  while 
under  canvas,  open-air  life  renders  the  appetite 
keener,  and  one's  enjoyment  of  life  is  more 
thorough  than  is  the  case  in  barracks.  Wet 
weather,  however,  changes  all  this.  The  luxury 
of  floor-boards  is  a  rare  one  even  in  a  standing 
camp,  and,  no  matter  what  one  may  do  in  the  way 
of  digging  trenches  round  the  tent  and  draining 
off  surplus  water  by  all  possible  means,  a  moist 
unpleasantness  renders  life  a  burden  and  causes 
equipment  and  arms  to  need  about  twice  as  much 
cleaning  as  under  normal  circumstances. 

Camp  life  breeds  yarns  unending,  and  in  wet 


108  IN    CAMP 

weather,  or  in  the  hours  after  dark,  men  sit  and 
tell  hirsute  chestnuts  to  each  other  for  lack  of 
better  occupation.  If  the  weather  is  fine  there 
are  plenty  of  varieties  of  sport,  including  the  ubi- 
quitous football  to  occupy  spare  minutes,  but  yarns 
and  tobacco  form  the  principal  solace  of  hours 
which  cannot  be  filled  in  more  active  ways.  There 
is  one  yarn  which,  like  all  yarns,  has  the  merit  of 
being  perfectly  true,  but,  unlike  most,  is  not  nearly 
so  well  known  as  it  ought  to  be.  It  concerns  a 
cavalry  regiment  which  settled  down  for  a  brief 
space  at  Potchefstroom  after  the  signing  of  peace 
in  South  Africa. 

Some  months  previous  to  the  signing  of  peace,  a 
certain  lieutenant  of  this  regiment,  known  to  his 
men  and  his  fellow  officers  as  "  Bulgy,"  became 
possessed  of  a  young  baboon,  which  grew  and 
throve  exceedingly  at  the  end  of  a  stout  chain 
that  secured  the  captive  to  one  of  the  transport 
wagons  of  the  regiment.  Bulgy's  servant  was 
entrusted  with  the  care  of  the  monkey,  which, 
after  the  manner  of  baboons,  was  a  competent 
thief  from  infancy,  and  inclined  to  be  savage  if 
thwarted.  On  one  occasion,  in  particular,  Bulgy's 
monkey  got  loose,  and  got  at  the  officers'  mess 
wagon ;  it  had  a  good  feed  of  biscuits  and  other 
delicacies,  and  retired  at  length,  followed  by  the 


IN    CAMP  109 

mess  caterer,  who  expostulated  violently  both 
with  Bulgy's  servant  and  with  Bulgy's  monkey, 
until  a  tin  of  ox-tongues  skilfully  aimed  by  the 
monkey  caught  him  below  the  belt  and  winded 
him.  After  that,  as  Bret  Harte  says,  the  subsequent 
proceedings  interested  him  no  more. 

Well,  the  regiment  arrived  at  Potchefstroom  and 
settled  down  under  canvas,  with  an  average  of 
eight  men  to  a  tent  and  the  horse  lines  of  each 
troop  placed  at  right-angles  to  the  lines  of  tents. 
Bulgy's  monkey  was  given  a  place  away  on  the 
outside  of  the  lines,  with  the  other  end  of  his  chain 
attached  to  a  tree-stump,  and  there,  for  a  time, 
he  rested,  fed  sparingly  and  abused  plentifully  by 
Bulgy's  servant.  In  the  regiment  itself  money 
was  plentiful  at  the  time,  and  it  was  the  custom  in 
the  tents  which  housed  drinking  men  for  the  eight 
tent -mates  to  get  in  a  can  of  beer  before  the  canteen 
closed.  Over  the  beer  they  would  sit  and  yarn 
and  play  cards  until  "lights  out"  sounded. 

One  night,  eight  men  sat  round  their  can  of  beer 
in  a  tent  of  "A"  Squadron,  to  which,  by  the  way. 
Bulgy  belonged.  These  eight  had  nearly  reached 
the  bottom  of  the  can.  They  had  blown  out  all 
the  candles  in  the  tent  save  one,  which  would 
remain  for  illumination  until  "  lights  out  "  sounded. 
The  last  man  to  unroll  his  blankets  and  get  to  bed 


110  IN    CAMP 

had  just  finished,  and  was  sitting  up  in  order  to 
blow  out  the  last  remaining  candle,  when  the  flap 
of  the  tent  was  raised  from  the  back,  and  a  hairy, 
grinning,  evil  face,  which  might  have  been  that  of 
the  devil  himself,  looked  in  on  the  sleepy  warriors. 
They,  for  their  part,  were  too  startled  to  investigate 
the  occurrence,  and  the  sight  of  that  face  prevented 
them  from  stopping  to  unfasten  the  tent  flap  in 
order  to  get  out.  They  simply  went  out,  under  the 
flies,  anyhow ;  one  man  tried  to  climb  the  tent  pole, 
possibly  with  a  vague  idea  of  getting  out  through 
the  ventilating  holes  at  the  top,  but  he  finally 
went  out  under  the  fly  of  the  tent  like  the  rest, 
taking  with  him  the  sting  of  a  vicious  whack  which 
the  hairy  devil  aimed  at  him  with  a  chain  that  it 
carried.  While  these  eight  men  were  fleeing 
through  the  night,  the  devil  with  the  chain  came 
out  from  the  tent,  and,  seeing  a  line  of  startled 
horses  before  it,  leaped  upon  the  back  of  the 
nearest  horse,  gave  the  animal  a  thundering  blow 
with  its  chain,  and  hopped  lightly  on  to  the  back 
of  the  next  horse  in  the  row,  repeating  the  per- 
formance there.  In  almost  as  little  time  as  it 
takes  to  tell,  a  squadron  of  stampeding  horses 
followed  the  eight  men  of  the  tent  on  their  journey 
toward  the  skyline,  and  in  the  black  and  windy 
dark  the  remaining  men  of  "A"  Squadron  turned 


IN    CAMP  111 

out  to  fetch  their  terrified  horses  back  to  camp, 
and,  when  they  knew  the  cause  of  the  disturbance, 
to  curse  Bulgy's  monkey  even  more  fervently 
than  Bulgy's  servant  had  cursed  it.  The  end  of  it 
all  was  that  eight  men  of  "A"  Squadron  signed 
the  pledge,  and  Bulgy  left  off  keeping  the  monkey ; 
it  was  too  expensive  a  form  of  amusement. 

This  is  a  typical  camp  yarn,  and  a  military  camp 
is  full  of  yarns,  some  better  than  this,  and  some 
worse. 

In  camp,  more  than  anywhere  else,  the  soldier 
learns  to  be  handy.  The  South  African  war  taught 
men  to  kill  and  cut  up  their  own  meat,  to  make  a 
cooking  fire  out  of  nothing,  to  cook  for  themselves, 
to  wash  up — though  most  of  them  had  learned 
this  in  barracks — to  wash  their  own  underclothing, 
darn  their  own  socks,  and  do  all  necessary  mending 
to  their  clothes.  It  taught  cavalrymen  the  value 
of  a  horse,  in  addition  to  giving  them  an  insight 
to  the  foregoing  list  of  accomplishments.  It  was, 
for  the  first  year  or  so,  a  strenuous  business  of 
fighting,  but  the  last  twelve  months  of  the  war 
consisted  for  many  men  far  more  of  marching  and 
camp  experience  than  actual  war  service.  It  was 
an  ideal  training  school  and  gave  an  insight  into 
camp  life  under  the  best  possible  circumstances  ; 
m  its    lessons    were    invaluable,    and    much    of   the 


112  IN    CAMP 

practice  of  the  Army  of  to-day  is  derived  from 
experience  obtained  during  that  campaign. 

One  faiHng  to  which  men — and  especially  young 
soldiers — are  liable  in  camp  life  consists  in  that 
when  they  return  to  camp,  thoroughly  tired  after 
a  long  day's  manoeuvring  or  marching,  they  will 
not  take  the  trouble  to  cook  and  get  ready  for 
themselves  the  food  without  which  they  ought  not 
to  be  allowed  to  retire  to  rest.  In  the  French  Army, 
officers  make  a  point  of  urging  their  men  to 
prepare  food  for  themselves  immediately  on  their 
return  to  camp,  but  in  the  English  Army  this 
matter  is  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  men  them- 
selves, with  the  result  that  some  of  them  frequently 
go  to  bed  for  the  night  without  being  properly  fed. 
This  course,  if  persisted  in,  almost  invariably  leads 
to  illness,  and  it  is  important  that  men  under 
canvas  should  be  properly  fed  at  the  end  of  the 
day  as  well  as  at  the  beginning  and  during  the 
course  of  their  work. 

When  under  canvas  in  time  of  peace,  the  au- 
thorities of  most  units  reduce  their  demands  on 
their  men  in  comparison  with  barrack  life.  It  is 
generally  understood  that  a  man  cannot  turn  out 
in  review  order,  or  in  "  burnish  and  fake,"  with 
the  restrictions  of  a  canvas  town  about  him.  In 
some  units,  however,  this  point  is  not  sufficiently 


IN    CAMP  113 

considered,  and  as  much  is  asked  of  men  as  when 
they  have  the  conveniences  of  barracks  all  about 
them.  The  result  of  this  is  sullenness  and  bad 
working  on  the  part  of  the  men ;  the  short-sighted- 
ness of  officers  leads  them  to  press  their  demands 
while  men  are  in  the  bad  temper  caused  by  too 
much  being  put  upon  them,  and  the  final  result 
is  what  is  known  technically  in  the  Army  as  an 
excess  of  "  crime."  A  string  of  men  far  in  excess 
of  the  usual  number  is  wheeled  up  in  front  of  the 
company  or  commanding  officer  to  be  "  weighed 
off,'*  and  the  number  of  men  on  defaulters'  parade, 
or  undergoing  punishment  fatigues,  steadily  in- 
creases. Although  in  theory  the  soldier  has  the 
right  of  complaint,  if  he  feels  himself  aggrieved,  to 
successive  officers,  even  up  to  the  general  officer 
commanding  the  brigade  or  division  in  which  he 
is  serving,  in  practice  he  finds  these  complaints 
of  so  little  real  use  to  him  that  he  expresses  his 
discontent  by  means  of  incurring  "crime,"  or,  in 
other  words,  by  getting  into  trouble  in  some  way. 
There  is  no  accounting  for  this  habit ;  it  is  the 
way  of  the  soldier,  and  no  further  explanation  can 
be  given.  Squadrons  of  cavalry  have  been  known 
to  cut  all  their  saddlery  to  pieces,  and  companies 
of  infantry  to  render  their  belts  and  equipment 
useless,  by  way  of  expressing  their  discontent  or 


114  IN    CAMP 

disgust  at  undue  harshness.  The  relaxation  of 
discipline  and  the  absence  of  barrack-room 
soldiering  when  under  canvas  is  a  privilege  which 
the  soldier  values  highly,  and  it  ought  not  to  be 
curtailed  in  any  way. 

A  pleasant  form  of  camping  which  many  units 
on  home  service  enjoy  is  the  annual  musketry 
camp.  It  happens  often  that  there  is  no  musketry 
range  within  convenient  marching  distance  of  the 
place  in  which  a  unit  is  stationed,  and,  in  that  case, 
the  unit  sends  its  men,  one  or  two  companies  or 
squadrons  at  a  time,  to  camp  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  musketry  range  allotted  to  their  use.  The 
firing  of  the  actual  musketry  course  is  in  itself  an 
interesting  business,  and  it  brings  out  a  pleasant 
spirit  of  emulation  among  the  men  concerned. 
Keenness  is  always  displayed  in  the  attempt  to 
attain  the  coveted  score  which  entitles  a  man  to 
wear  crossed  guns  on  his  sleeve  for  the  ensuing 
twelve  months,  and  proclaims  him  a  "  marksman." 
In  addition  to  this  there  is  the  pleasant  sense  of 
freedom  engendered  by  life  under  canvas,  and  the 
access  of  health  induced  thereby.  The  soldier,  in 
common  with  most  healthy  men,  enjoys  roughing 
it  up  to  a  point,  and  life  in  a  musketry  camp 
seldom  takes  him  beyond  the  point  at  which 
enjoyment  ceases. 


IN    CAMP  115 

Infantry  units  serving  in  foreign  and  colonial 
stations  are  frequently  split  up  into  detachments 
consisting  of  one  or  more  companies,  and  serving 
each  at  a  different  place.  This  detachment  duty, 
as  it  is  called,  as  often  as  not  involves  life  under 
canvas,  and  it  may  be  understood  that  life  under 
the  tropical  or  sub-tropical  conditions  of  foreign 
and  colonial  stations  can  be  a  very  pleasant 
thing.  Here,  as  in  home  stations,  sufficient  work 
is  provided  to  keep  the  soldier  from  overmuch 
meditation.  Time  is  allowed,  however,  for  sport 
and  recreation,  and,  even  when  thrown  entirely 
on  their  own  resources  for  amusement,  troops  are 
capable  of  making  the  time  pass  quickly  and 
easily. 

While  on  the  subject  of  camping  there  is  one 
more  yarn  of  South  Africa  and  the  war  which 
merits  telling,  although  it  only  concerns  a  bad 
case  of  "  nerves."  It  happened  during  the  last 
year  of  the  war  that  a  column  crossed  the  Modder 
River  from  south  to  north,  going  in  the  direction 
of  Brandfort,  and  camp  was  pitched  for  the  night 
just  to  the  north  of  the  Glen  Drift.  At  this  point 
in  its  course  the  Modder  runs  between  steep,  cliff- 
like banks,  from  which  a  belt  of  mimosa  scrub 
stretches  out  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  on  each 
side  of  the  river.     After  camp  had  been  pitched 


116  IN    CAMP 

for  the  night,  the  sentries  round  about  the  camp 
were  finally  posted  with  a  special  view  to  guarding 
the  drift,  the  northward  front  of  the  column,  and 
its  flanks.  Only  two  or  three  sentries,  however, 
were  considered  necessary  to  protect  the  rear, 
which  rested  on  the  impenetrable  belt  of  mimosa 
scrub  along  the  river  bank. 

One  of  these  sentries  along  the  scrub  came  on 
duty  at  midnight,  just  after  the  moon  had  gone 
down.  He  "  took  over "  from  the  sentry  who 
preceded  him  on  the  post,  and  started  to  keep 
watch  according  to  orders,  though  in  his  particular 
position  there  was  little  enough  to  watch.  Quite 
suddenly  he  grew  terribly  afraid,  not  with  a 
natural  kind  of  fear,  but  with  the  nightmarish  kind 
of  terror  that  children  are  known  to  experience  in 
the  dark.  His  reason  told  him  that  in  the  position 
that  he  occupied  there  was  nothing  which  could 
possibly  harm  him,  for  behind  him  was  the  bush, 
through  which  a  man  could  not  even  crawl, 
while  before  him  and  to  either  side  was  the 
chain  of  sentries,  of  which  he  formed  a  part, 
surrounding  his  sleeping  comrades.  His  imagin- 
ation, however,  or  possibly  his  instinct,  in- 
sisted that  something  uncanny  and  evil  was 
watching  him  from  the  darkness  of  the  tangled 
mimosa   bushes,   and  was   waiting   a   chance   to 


IN    CAMP  117 

strike  at  him  in  some  horrible  fashion.  He  tried 
to  shake  off  this  childish  fear,  to  assure  himself 
that  it  could  not  possibly  be  other  than  a  trick  of 
''  nerves  "  brought  on  by  darkness  and  the  need 
for  keeping  watch,  when  —  crash  1  —  something 
struck  him  with  tremendous  force  in  the  back  and 
sent  him  forward  on  his  face. 

Half  stunned,  he  picked  himself  up  from  the 
ground,  and  the  pain  in  his  back  was  sufficient  to 
assure  him  that  he  had  not  merely  fallen  asleep 
and  imagined  the  whole  business.  With  his 
loaded  rifle  at  the  ready  he  searched  the  edge  of 
the  mimosa  bush  as  closely  as  he  was  able,  but 
could  discover  nothing  ;  he  had  an  idea  of  com- 
municating with  the  sentry  next  in  the  line  to 
himself,  but,  since  there  was  no  further  disturbance, 
and  nothing  to  show,  he  decided  to  say  nothing, 
but  simply  to  stick  to  liis  post  until  the  next  relief 
came  round. 

Suddenly  the  uncanny  sense  of  terror  returned 
to  him,  intensified.  He  felt  certain  this  time  that 
the  evil  thing  which  had  struck  him  before  would 
strike  again,  and  he  felt  certain  that  he  was  being 
watched  by  unseen  eyes.  He  was  new  to  the 
country  ;  as  an  irregular  he  was  new  to  military 
ways,  and  he  promised  himself  that  if  ever  he  got 
safely  home  he  would  not  volunteer  for  active 


118  IN    CAMP 

service  again.  The  sense  of  something  unseen  and 
watching  him  grew,  and  with  it  grew  also  the 
nightmarish  terror,  until  he  was  actually  afraid  to 
move.  Then,  by  means  of  the  same  mysterious 
agency,  he  was  struck  again  to  the  ground,  and 
this  time  he  lay  only  partially  conscious  and  quite 
helpless  until  the  reliefs  came  round.  The  sergeant 
in  charge  of  the  reliefs  had  an  idea  at  first  of 
making  the  man  a  close  prisoner  for  lying  down 
and  sleeping  at  his  post,  but  after  a  little  investiga- 
tion he  changed  his  mind  and  sent  one  of  his  men 
for  the  doctor  instead. 

The  doctor  announced,  after  examination,  that 
if  the  blow  which  felled  the  man  had  struck  him 
a  few  inches  higher  up  in  the  back  he  would  not 
have  been  alive  to  remember  it,  and  the  man 
himself  was  taken  into  hospital  for  a  few  days  to 
recover  from  the  injuries  so  mysteriously  inflicted. 
In  the  morning  the  column  moved  off  on  its  way, 
and  no  satisfactory  reason  could  be  adduced  for 
the  midnight  occurrence. 

But  residents  in  that  district  will  tell  you,  unto 
this  day,  that  one  who  has  the  patience  to  keep 
quiet  and  watch  in  the  moonlight  can  see  big 
baboons  come  up  from  the  mimosa  scrub  and 
amuse  themselves  by  throwing  clods  of  earth  and 
rocks  at  each  other. 


IN    CAMP  119 

It  is  a  good  camp  story,  and  I  tell  it  as  it  was 
told  to  me,  without  vouching  for  its  truth.  Any 
man  who  cares  to  go  into  a  military  camp — by 
permission  of  the  officer  commanding,  of  course — 
and  has  the  tact  and  patience  to  win  the  confidence 
of  the  soldiers  in  the  camp,  can  hear  stories  equally 
good,  and  plenty  of  them.  For,  as  previously 
remarked,  camp  life  breeds  yarns. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

MUSKETRY 

A  LTHOUGH  the  musket  of  old  time  became 
-^^^  obsolete  before  the  memory  of  living  man, 
the  term  "  musketry  "  survives  yet,  and  probably 
will  always  survive  for  laconic  description  of  the 
art  and  practice  of  military  rifle-shooting.  Mus- 
ketry is  the  primary  business  of  the  infantry  soldier, 
and  it  also  enters  largely  into  the  training  of  the 
cavalryman,  w^ho  is  expected  to  be  able  to  dis- 
mount and  hold  a  desired  position  until  infantry 
arrive  to  relieve  him. 

So  far  as  the  recruit  is  concerned,  by  far  the 
greater  part  of  the  necessary  instruction  in  mus- 
ketry takes  place  not  on  the  rifle  range,  but  on 
the  regimental  or  battalion  drill-ground,  where  the 
beginner  is  taught  the  correct  positions  for  shooting 
while  standing,  kneeling,  and  lying.  He  is  taught 
the  various  parts  of  his  weapon  and  their  peculiar 
uses  ;  he  is  taught  that  when  a  wind  gauge  is 
adjusted  one  division  to  either  side,  it  makes  a 
lateral  difference  of  a  foot  for  every  hundred  yards 

120 


MUSKETRY  121 

in  the  ultimate  destination  of  the  bullet.  He  is 
taught  the  business  of  fine  adjustment  of  sights, 
taught  with  clips  of  dummy  cartridges  how  to 
charge  the  magazine  of  his  rifle.  The  extreme 
effectiveness  of  the  weapon  is  impressed  on  him, 
and  the  instructor  not  only  tells  him  that  he  must 
not  point  a  loaded  rifle  at  a  pal,  but  also  explains 
the  reason  for  this,  and  usually  draws  attention  to 
accidents  that  have  occurred  through  disregard  of 
elementary  rules  of  caution.  For  long  experience 
has  demonstrated  that  the  unpractised  man  is 
liable  to  be  careless  in  the  way  in  which  he  handles 
a  rifle,  and  the  recruit,  being  at  a  careless  age,  and 
often  coming  from  a  careless  class,  is  especially 
prone  to  make  mistakes  unless  the  need  for  caution 
is  well  hammered  home. 

At  first  glance,  a  rifle  is  an  extremely  simple 
thing.  You  pull  back  the  bolt,  insert  a  cartridge, 
and  close  the  bolt.  Then  you  put  the  rifle  to  your 
shoulder  and  pull  the  trigger — and  the  trick  is  done. 
But  first  impressions  are  misleading,  and  the  recruit 
has  to  be  trained  in  the  use  of  the  rifle  until  he 
understands  that  he  has  been  given  charge  of  a 
very  delicate  and  complex  piece  of  mechanism,  of 
which  the  parts  are  so  finely  adjusted  that  it  will 
send  its  bullet  accurately  for  a  distance  of  2800 
yards — considerably  over  a  mile  and  a  half.     In 


122  MUSKETRY 

order  to  maintain  the  accuracy  of  the  instrument 
the  recruit  is  taught  by  means  of  a  series  of  lessons, 
which  seem  to  him  insufferably  long  and  tedious, 
how  to  clean,  care  for,  and  handle  his  rifle.  An 
immense  amount  of  time  and  care  is  given  to  the 
business  of  teaching  him  exactly  how  to  press  the 
trigger,  for  on  the  method  of  pressing  the  quality 
of  the  shot  depends  very  largely.  The  musketry 
instructor  gives  individual  instruction  to  each  man 
in  this,  and  the  man  is  made  to  undergo  "  snapping 
practice  " — that  is,  repeatedly  pressing  the  trigger 
of  the  empty  rifle  until  he  has  gained  sufficient 
experience  to  have  some  idea  of  what  will  happen 
when  the  trigger  is  pressed  with  a  live  cartridge  in 
front  of  the  bolt. 

When  the  recruit  has  been  well  grounded  in  the 
theory  of  using  a  rifle,  he  is  taken  to  the  rifle  range 
for  actual  practice  with  real  ammunition.  He 
starts  off  at  the  200  yards'  range  with  a  large  target 
before  him,  and,  in  all  probability,  the  first  shot 
that  he  fires  scores  a  bull's-eye.  He  feels  at  once 
that  he  knows  a  good  bit  more  about  the  use  of  a 
rifle  than  the  man  who  is  instructing  him,  and  at 
the  given  word  he  aims  and  fires  again.  This  time 
he  is  lucky  if  he  scores  an  outer  ;  more  often  than 
not  the  bullet  either  strikes  the  ground  half-way 
up  the  range,  or  goes  sailing  over  the  back  of  the 


MUSKETRY  123 

butts,  and  the  recruit,  with  a  nasty  painful  feeling 
about  his  shoulder,  has  an  idea  that  rifle-shooting 
is  a  tricky  business,  after  all.  The  fact  was  that, 
with  his  experience  of  "  snapping,"  he  had  learned 
to  pull  the  trigger — or  rather,  to  press  it — without 
experiencing  the  kick  of  the  rifle  ;  that  kick,  felt 
with  the  first  real  firing,  caused  an  instinctive  recoil 
on  his  part  in  firing  the  second  time.  Later  on  he 
learns  to  stand  the  kick,  and  to  mitigate  its  effects 
by  holding  the  rifle  firmly  in  to  his  shoulder,  and 
from  that  time  onward  he  begins  to  improve  in 
the  art  of  rifle-shooting  and  to  make  consistent 
practice. 

For  the  recruits'  course,  the  targets  are  naturally 
larger  and  the  conditions  easier  than  when  the 
trained  man  fires.  At  the  conclusion  of  the 
recruits'  course,  the  men  are  graded  into  "  marks- 
men," who  are  the  best  shots  of  all,  first-class, 
second-class,  and  third-class  shots,  and  they  have 
to  qualify  in  each  annual  "duty-man's"  course  of 
firing  in  order  to  retain  or  improve  their  positions 
as  shots.  Before  the  new  regulations,  which  made 
pay  dependent  on  proficiency  on  the  range,  came 
into  force,  there  was  a  good  deal  of  juggling  with 
scores  in  the  butts  ;  one  company  or  squadron  of 
a  unit  would  provide  "  markers  "  for  another,  and 
since  the  men  at  the  firing  point  shot  in  regular 


124  MUSKETRY 

order,  it  was  a  comparatively  easy  matter  to 
"  square  the  marker  "  and  get  him  to  mark  up  a 
better  score  than  was  actually  obtained.  Under 
the  present  rules  governing  proficiency  pay,  how- 
ever, a  man's  rate  of  pay  is  dependent  on  his 
musketry,  and  third-class  shots  suffer  to  the  extent 
of  twopence  per  day  for  failing  to  make  the  requi- 
site number  of  points  for  second  class.  In  conse- 
quence of  this,  supervision  in  the  butts  is  much 
more  severe,  and  there  is  little  opportunity  of 
putting  on  a  score  that  is  not  actually  obtained. 
A  case  occurred  two  or  three  years  ago,  the  5th 
Dragoon  Guards  being  the  regiment  concerned,  in 
which  the  men  of  a  whole  squadron  made  such 
an  abnormally  good  score  as  a  whole  that,  when 
the  returns  came  to  be  inspected,  it  was  suspected 
that  the  markers  had  had  a  hand  in  compiling 
what  was  practically  a  record.  The  squadron  in 
question  was  ordered  to  fire  its  course  over  again, 
and  the  markers  were  carefully  chosen  with  a  view 
to  the  prevention  of  fraud  in  the  butts.  After  two 
or  three  days  of  firing,  however,  the  repeat  course 
was  stopped,  for  the  men  of  the  squadron  were 
making  even  better  scores  than  before.  The 
incident  goes  to  show  that  there  is  little  likelihood 
of  frauds  occurring  at  the  butts  under  the  present 
system  of  supervision,   and  incidentally  demon- 


MUSKETRY  125 

strates  the  shooting  capabiUties  of  that  particular 
squadron  of  men. 

Bad  shots  are  the  trial  of  instructors,  who  are 
held  more  or  less  responsible  for  the  musketry 
standard  of  their  units — certainly  more,  if  there 
are  too  many  bad  shots  in  any  particular  unit. 
The  bad  shot  is  usually  a  nervous  man,  who  cannot 
keep  himself  and  his  rifle  steady  at  the  moment  of 
firing,  though  drink — too  much  of  it — plays  a 
large  part  in  the  reduction  of  musketry  scores. 
At  any  rifle  range  used  by  regular  troops,  during 
the  carrying  out  of  the  annual  course,  one  may 
see  the  musketry  instructor  lying  beside  some  man 
at  the  firing  point,  instructing  him  where  to  aim, 
pointing  out  the  error  of  the  last  shot,  and  telling 
the  soldier  how  to  correct  his  aim  for  the  next — 
generally  helping  to  keep  up  the  average  of  the 
regiment  or  battalion.  As  a  rule,  there  is  no  man 
more  keen  on  his  work  than  the  musketry  instruc- 
tor, who  is  usually  a  very  good  shot  himself,  as 
well  as  being  capable  of  imparting  the  art  of  shoot- 
ing to  others. 

The  great  musketry  school  of  the  British  Army, 
so  far  as  home  service  goes,  is  at  Hythe,  where  all 
instructors  have  to  attend  a  class  to  qualify  for 
instructorship.  Here  the  theory  and  practice  of 
shooting  are  fully  taught ;  a  man  at  Hythe  thinks 


126  MUSKETRY 

shooting,  dreams  shooting,  talks  shooting,  and 
shoots,  all  the  time  of  his  course.  He  is  initiated 
into  the  mysteries  of  trajectory  and  wind  pressure, 
taught  all  about  muzzle  velocity  and  danger  zone, 
while  the  depth  of  grooving  in  a  rifle  barrel  is  mere 
child's  play  to  him.  He  is  taught  the  minutiae  of 
the  rifle,  and  comes  back  to  his  unit  knowing 
exactly  why  men  shoot  well  and  why  they  shoot 
badly.  He  is  then  expected  to  impart  his  know- 
ledge, or  some  of  it,  to  the  recruits  of  the  unit,  and 
to  supervise  the  shooting  of  the  trained  men  as 
well.  In  course  of  time,  constantly  living  in  an 
atmosphere  of  rifle-shooting,  and  spending  more 
time  and  ammunition  on  the  range  than  any  other 
man  of  his  unit,  he  becomes  one  of  the  best  shots, 
though  seldom  the  very  best.  For  rifle-shooting  is 
largely  a  matter  of  aptitude,  and  some  men,  after 
their  recruits'  training  and  a  duty-man's  course  on 
the  range,  can  very  nearly  equal  the  scores  com- 
piled by  the  musketry  instructor. 

Since  shooting  is  a  matter  of  aptitude  to  a  great 
extent,  it  follows  that  the  present  system,  punish- 
ing men  for  bad  shooting  by  deprivation  of  pay 
and  in  other  ways,  is  not  a  good  one.  It  has  not 
increased  the  standard  of  shooting  to  any  appre- 
ciable extent ;  men  do  not  shoot  better  because 
they  know  their  rate  of  pay  depends  on  it,  for  they 


MUSKETRY  127 

were  shooting  as  well  as  they  could  before.  Cer- 
tainly the  man  who  can  shoot  well  is  of  greater 
value  in  the  firing  line  than  the  one  who  shoots 
badly,  but,  apart  from  this,  all  men  are  called  on 
to  do  the  same  duty,  and  the  third-class  shot,  if 
normally  treated,  has  as  much  to  do,  does  it  just 
as  well,  and  is  entitled  to  as  much  pay  for  it  as  the 
marksman.  There  can  be  no  objection  to  a  system 
which  rewards  good  shooting,  but  that  is  an  entirely 
different  matter  from  penalising  bad  shooting,  as 
is  done  at  present. 

The  penalties  do  not  always  stop  at  deprivation 
of  pay.  In  some  infantry  units  a  third-class  shot  is 
regarded  as  little  better  than  a  defaulter  ;  he  has 
extra  drill  piled  on  him — drill  which  has  nothing 
at  all  to  do  with  the  business  of  learning  to  shoot ; 
he  is  liable  for  fatigues  from  which  other  men  are 
excused,  and  altogether  is  regarded  to  a  certain 
extent  as  incompetent  in  other  things  beside  marks- 
manship. This,  naturally,  does  not  improve  his 
shooting  capabilities  ;  he  gets  disgusted  with  things 
as  they  are,  knows  that,  since  his  commanding 
officer  has  determined  things  shall  be  no  better  for 
him,  it  is  no  use  hoping  for  a  change,  and  with  a 
feeling  of  disgust  resolves  that,  since  in  his  next 
annual  course  he  cannot  possibly  put  up  a  better 
score,  he   will  put  up  a  worse.    It   is  the  way 


128  MUSKETRY 

in  which  the  soldier  reasons,  and  there  is  no 
altering  it ;  the  way  in  which  men  are  disciplined 
makes  them  reason  so,  and  the  determination  to 
make  a  worse  score  since  a  better  is  impossible  is 
on  a  par  with  the  action  of  a  cavalry  squadron 
in  cutting  its  saddlery  to  pieces  because  the  men 
are  disgusted  with  the  ways  of  an  officer  or  non- 
commissioned officer.  Thus,  in  the  case  of  unduly 
severe  action  on  the  part  of  commanding  officers, 
the  pay  regulations,  which  make  musketry  a  factor 
in  the  rate  of  pay,  have  done  little  good  to  shooting 
among  the  men. 

When  actually  at  the  firing  point,  a  soldier  is 
taught  that  he  must  "  keep  his  rifle  pointing  up 
the  range,"  for  accidents  happen  easily,  and,  in 
spite  of  the  extreme  caution  of  officers  and  instruc- 
tors, hardly  a  year  goes  by  without  some  accidental 
shooting  to  record.  The  wonder  is  not  that  this 
sort  of  thing  happens,  but  that  it  does  not  happen 
more  often,  for,  until  a  soldier  has  undergone  active 
service  and  seen  how  easily  fatal  results  are  pro- 
duced with  a  rifle,  it  seems  impossible  to  make  him 
understand  the  danger  attaching  to  careless  use  of 
the  weapon.  One  may  find  a  man,  so  long  as  he  is 
not  being  watched,  calmly  loading  a  rifle  and 
closing  the  bolt  with  the  muzzle  pointed  at  the  ear 
of  a  comrade  ;  it  is  not  a  frequent  occurrence,  but 


MUSKETRY  129 

it  happens,  all  the  same.  And,  in  consequence, 
accidents  happen. 

The  range  and  the  annual  course  are  productive 
of  a  good  deal  of  amusement,  at  times.  There  is  a 
story  of  an  officer  who  pointed  out  to  a  man  that 
every  shot  he  was  firing  was  going  three  feet  to  the 
right  of  the  target,  and  who,  after  having  pointed 
this  out  several  times,  at  last  ordered  the  man  to 
stop  firing  while  he  telephoned  up  to  the  butts  and 
ordered  that  that  particular  target  should  be  moved 
three  feet  to  the  right.  Whether  the  result  justified 
the  change  is  not  recorded.  Cases  are  not  un- 
common in  which  a  man  fires  on  the  wrong 
target  by  mistake,  especially  at  the  long  ranges, 
and  there  is  at  least  one  well-authenticated  case  of 
a  man  who  put  all  his  seven  shots  on  to  the  next 
man's  target,  and  of  course  scored  nothing  for  him- 
self. For  the  law  of  the  range  is  that  if  a  man 
plants  a  shot  on  another  man's  target,  the  other 
man  gets  the  benefit  of  the  points  scored  by  that 
shot.  The  markers  in  the  butts  must  mark  vip 
what  they  see,  for  if  they  were  compelled  to  go  by 
instructions  from  the  firing  point  and  had  to  dis- 
regard the  evidence  of  the  targets,  a  musketry 
course  would  be  an  extremely  complicated  business, 
and  would  last  for  ever. 

One  oft-told  story  is  that  of  the  recruit  who  sent 


130  MUSKETRY 

shot  after  shot  over  the  back  of  the  butts,  in  spite 
of  the  repeated  instructions  of  the  musketry  in- 
structor to  take  a  lower  aim.  At  last,  probably 
being  tired  of  being  told  to  aim  low,  the  recruit 
dropped  his  rifle  muzzle  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
bullet  struck  the  ground  about  half-way  up  the 
range  and  went  on  its  course  as  a  whizzing  ricochet. 
''  Missed  again  !  "  said  the  instructor  in  disgust. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  recruit,  "  but  I  reckon  the  target 
felt  a  draught  that  time,  anyhow." 

The  recruits'  course  of  musketry  ends  on  the 
short  ranges,  but  when  the  duty-man  comes  to  fire 
for  the  year  he  is  taken  back,  a  hundred  yards  at 
a  time,  until  he  is  distant  1000  yards  from  the 
target.  This  distance,  1000  yards,  is  considered 
the  limit  of  effective  rifle  fire,  though  a  good  shot 
can  do  a  considerable  amoimt  of  damage  at  2000 
yards,  and  the  limit  of  range  of  the  Lee-Enfield 
magazine  rifle,  the  one  in  use  in  the  British  Army, 
extends  to  2800  yards.  The  weight  of  the  bullet 
is  so  small,  however,  that  at  the  long  distances 
atmospheric  conditions,  and  especially  wind,  have 
a  great  influence  on  the  course  of  its  flight,  while 
the  power  of  human  sight  is  also  a  factor  in  limiting 
the  effective  range.  Even  at  1000  yards  a  man 
looks  a  very  small  thing,  while  at  2000  yards  he  is 
a  mere  dot,  and  it  is  impossible  to  take  more  than 


MUSKETRY  181 

a  general  aim.  More  might  be  accomplished  with 
more  delicately  adjusted  sights  and  wind-gauges, 
but  those  at  present  in  use  are  quite  sufficiently 
delicate  for  purposes  of  campaigning,  and  tele- 
scopic sights,  or  appliances  of  a  delicate  nature  for 
bettering  shooting,  are  quite  out  of  the  question 
for  use  by  the  rank  and  file.  Most  of  the  shooting 
of  the  Army  is  done  at  ranges  between  500  and 
1000  yards,  and,  whatever  weapon  science  may 
produce  for  the  use  of  the  soldier,  it  is  unlikely 
that  these  distances  will  be  greatly  increased, 
since  even  science  cannot  overcome  the  limitations 
to  which  humanity  is  subject. 

Up  to  a  few  years  ago,  the  old-fashioned  "  bull's- 
eye  "  targets  were  employed  at  all  ranges  and  for 
all  purposes,  but  they  have  been  practically  dis- 
carded now  in  favour  of  targets  which  reproduce^ 
as  accurately  as  possible,  the  actual  targets  at 
which  men  have  to  aim  in  war.  The  modern 
target  is  made  up  of  a  white  portion  representing 
the  sky,  and  a  shot  on  this  portion  counts  for 
nothing  at  all ;  the  lower  part  of  the  target  is  dull 
mud-coloured,  and  in  the  middle,  projecting  a  little 
way  into  the  white  portion,  is  a  black  area  corre- 
sponding roughly  in  shape  and  size  to  the  head 
and  shoulders  of  a  man.  Shots  on  this  black 
portion,  which  may  be  considered  as  a  man  looking 


182  MUSKETRY 

over  a  bank  of  earth,  count  as  "  bull's-eyes,"  and 
shots  on  the  mud-coloured  portion  of  the  target 
have  also  a  certain  value,  for  it  is  considered  that 
if  a  shot  goes  sufficiently  near  the  figure  of  the  man 
to  penetrate  the  earth  that  the  target  represents, 
such  a  shot  under  actual  conditions  would  possibly 
ricochet  and  kill  the  man,  and  in  any  case  would 
fling  up  such  a  cloud  of  dust  or  shower  of  mud  and 
stones  as  to  wound  him  in  some  way,  or  at  least 
put  him  out  of  action  for  a  few  minutes.  Further, 
rapid  individual  fire  plays  a  far  greater  part  in 
modern  rifle-shooting  than  it  did  a  few  years  ago. 
The  "  volleys,"  which  used  to  be  so  tremendously 
effective  in  the  days  of  muzzle  loading  and  slow 
fire  at  short  ranges,  are  little  considered  under 
present  conditions ;  with  the  development  of 
initiative,  and  the  introduction  of  open  order  in 
the  firing  line,  men  are  taught  to  fire  rapidly  by 
means  of  exposing  the  targets  for  a  second  or  two 
at  a  time,  two  shots  or  more  to  be  got  on  the  target 
at  each  exposure.  In  the  musketry  course  of  ten 
years  ago  there  was  very  little  rapid  firing,  but 
now  it  takes  up  more  than  half  of  the  total  of 
exercises  on  the  range. 

Apart  from  the  annual  course  of  musketry  which 
men  are  compelled  to  undergo,  they  are  encouraged 
to  practise  shooting  throughout  the  year  by  means 


MUSKETRY  133 

of  competitions,  financed  out  of  regimental  funds, 
and  offering  prizes  to  be  won  in  open  competition. 
Competitors  are  graded  into  the  respective  classes 
in  which  their  last  course  left  them,  and  prizes  are 
offered  in  each  class,  though  why  silver  spoons 
should  be  offered  to  such  an  extent  as  they  are  is 
one  of  the  mysteries  that  no  man  can  explain.  Cer- 
tain it  is  that  in  nearly  every  shooting  competition 
held,  silver  spoons  are  offered  as  prizes — and  a 
soldier  has  little  use  for  an  ordinary  teaspoon, 
silver  or  otherwise. 

The  scores  put  on  by  men  of  the  Army,  taken 
in  the  average,  go  to  prove  that  British  soldiers 
have  little  to  learn  from  those  of  other  nations  in 
the  matter  of  shooting.  The  ''  marksman,"  in 
order  to  win  the  right  to  wear  crossed  guns  on  his 
sleeve,  has  to  put  up  a  score  which  even  a  Bisley 
crack  shot  would  not  despise,  and  yet  the  number 
of  men  to  be  seen  walking  out  with  crossed  guns 
on  their  sleeves  is  no  inconsiderable  one,  while 
first-class  shots  are  plentiful  in  all  units  of  the 
cavalry  and  infantry.  Artillerymen,  of  course, 
know  little  about  the  rifle  and  its  use ;  their 
weapon  both  of  offence  and  defence  is  the  big  gun, 
and  in  the  matter  of  rifle-shooting  they  trust  to 
their  escort  of  cavalry  or  infantry — usually  the 
Jatter,  except  in  the  case  of  Horse  Artillery.   Taken 


184  MUSKETRY 

in  the  mass,  the  British  soldier  has  every  reason 
to  congratulate  himself  on  the  way  in  which  he 
uses  his  rifle,  and  the  present  Continental  war  has 
proved  that  he  is  every  whit  as  good  at  using  the 
rifle  in  the  field  as  he  is  on  the  range,  though,  in 
shooting  on  active  service,  the  range  of  the  object 
has  to  be  found,  while  in  all  shooting  practice  in 
time  of  peace  it  is  known  and  the  sights  correctly 
adjusted  before  the  man  begins  to  fire. 

An  adjunct  to  the  course  of  musketry  is  that  of 
judging  distance,  in  which  men  are  taken  out  and 
asked  to  estimate  distances  of  various  objects. 
Even  for  this  there  is  a  system  of  training,  and  men 
are  instructed  to  consider  how  many  times  a  hun- 
dred yards  will  fit  into  the  space  between  them  and 
the  given  object.  They  are  taught  how  conditions 
of  light  and  shade  affect  the  apparent  distance  ; 
how,  with  the  sun  shining  from  behind  the  observer 
on  to  the  object,  the  distance  appears  less  than 
when  the  sun  is  shining  from  behind  the  object  on 
to  the  observer.  They  are  taught  at  first  to  esti- 
mate short  distances,  and  the  range  of  objects 
chosen  for  experiment  is  gradually  increased.  In 
this,  again,  aptitude  plays  a  considerable  part ; 
some  men  can  judge  distance  from  observation 
only  with  marvellous  accuracy,  while  others  never 
get  the  habit  of  making  correct  estimates. 


MUSKETRY  185 

An  interesting  method  practised  in  order  to 
ascertain  distance  consists  in  taking  the  estimates 
of  a  number  of  men,  and  then  striking  an  average. 
With  any  number  of  men  over  ten  from  whom  to 
obtain  the  average,  a  correct  estimate  of  the  dis- 
tance is  usually  obtained.  Another  method  con- 
sists in  observing  how  much  of  an  object  of  known 
dimensions  can  be  seen  when  looking  through  a 
rifle  barrel,  after  the  bolt  of  the  rifle  has  been 
withdrawn  for  the  purpose.  Since,  however,  the 
object  of  training  in  judging  distance  is  to  enable 
a  man  to  make  an  individual  estimate,  neither  of 
these  methods  is  permitted  to  be  used  in  the  judg- 
ing when  points  are  awarded.  The  award  of  points, 
by  the  way,  counts  toward  the  total  number  of 
points  in  the  annual  musketry  course. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  INTERNAL  ECONOMY  OF  THE  ARMV 

GIVEN  such  a  conscript  army  as  can  be  seen  in 
working  in  any  Continental  nation,  there  is 
a  very  good  reason  for  keeping  the  rate  of  pay  for 
the  rank  and  file  down  to  as  low  a  standard  as 
possible,  for  the  State  concerned  in  the  upkeep  of 
a  conscript  army  puts  all,  or  in  any  case  the 
greater  part,  of  its  male  citizens  through  the  mill 
of  military  service,  and  not  only  puts  them 
through,  but  compels  them  to  go  through.  It  thus 
stands  to  reason  that,  as  the  men  serve  by  com- 
pulsion, there  is  no  need  to  offer  good  rates  of  pay 
as  an  inducement  to  serve  ;  further,  it  is  to  the 
interest  of  the  State  concerned  to  keep  down  the 
expense  attendant  on  the  maintenance  of  its  army 
as  much  as  possible,  and  for  these  two  reasons,  if 
for  no  other,  the  rate  of  pay  in  Continental  armies 
is  remarkably  small. 

With  a  volunteer  army,  however,  the  matter 
must  be  looked  at  in  a  different  light.  It  is  in  the 
interest  of  the  State,  of  course,  that  expenses  in 

136 


INTERNAL    ECONOMY  137 

connection  with  its  army  should  be  kept  as  low  as 
possible,  but  there  the  analogy  between  con- 
script and  volunteer  rates  of  pay  ends.  If  the 
right  class  of  man  is  to  be  induced  to  volunteer 
for  service,  he  must  be  offered  a  sufficient  rate  of 
pay  to  make  military  service  worth  his  while — in 
time  of  peace,  at  any  rate.  The  ideal  rate  of  pay 
would  be  attained  if  the  State  would  consider  itself, 
so  far  as  its  army  is  in  question,  in  competition 
with  all  other  employers  of  labour,  and  would  offer 
a  rate  of  pay  commensurate  with  the  services 
demanded  of  its  employees.  By  that  method  the 
right  class  of  man  would  be  persuaded  to  come 
forward  in  sufficient  numbers,  and  the  Army  could 
be  maintained  at  strength  without  trouble. 

The  British  Army  is  the  only  voluntary  one 
among  the  armies  of  the  Western  world,  and  for 
some  time  past  it  has  experienced  difficulty  in 
obtaining  a  sufficiency  of  recruits  to  keep  it  up  to 
strength,  as  was  evidenced  by  the  series  of  recruit- 
ing advertisements  in  nearly  all  daily  papers  of 
the  kingdom  with  which  the  year  1914  opened. 
Statistics  go  to  prove  that  recruiting  is  not 
altogether  a  matter  of  arousing  patriotism,  but  is 
dependent  on  the  state  of  the  labour  market  to  a 
very  great  extent.  In  the  years  following  on  the 
South  African  war^  there  was  a  larger  percentage 


188  INTERNAL    ECONOMY 

of  unemployed  in  the  kingdom  than  at  normal 
times,  and  consequently  recruiting  flourished ; 
men  of  the  stamp  that  the  Army  wants,  finding 
nothing  better  to  do,  and  often  being  uncertain 
where  the  next  meal  was  to  come  from,  enlisted, 
and  the  Army  had  no  trouble  in  maintaining  itself 
at  strength,  although  the  rate  of  pay  that  it  offered 
was  lower  than  that  earned,  in  many  cases,  by  the 
ordinary  unskilled  labourer.  Gradually,  however, 
commercial  conditions  began  to  improve,  and  for 
the  past  year  or  two,  in  consequence  of  a  very 
small  percentage  of  unemployment  among  the 
labouring  classes,  recruiting  has  suffered — the 
Army  does  not  offer  as  much  as  the  ordinary 
civilian  employer,  either  in  wages  or  conditions  of 
life,  and  consequently  men  will  not  enlist  as  long 
as  they  can  get  something  to  do  in  a  regular  way. 
Hence  the  War  Office  advertisements,  which  Had 
very  little  effect  on  the  recruiting  statistics,  and 
were  wrongly  conceived  so  far  as  appealing  to  the 
right  class  of  man  was  in  question.  It  was  not  till 
Lord  Kitchener  had  assumed  control  of  the  War 
Office  that  the  advertisements  emanating  from 
that  establishment  made  a  real  personal  appeal  to 
the  recruit ;  the  two  events  may  have  been 
coincidence,  for  the  war  has  pushed  up  recruiting 
as  a  war  always  does  ;  again,  there  may  have  been 


INTERNAL   ECONOMY  139 

something  in  the  fact  that  Kitchener,  as  well  as 
being  an  ideal  organiser  of  men,  is  a  great  psy- 
chologist. 

However  this  may  be,  the  fact  remains  that, 
although  the  War  Office  by  the  mere  fact  of  its 
advertising  has  entered  the  labour  market  as  a 
competitor  with  civilian  employers,  it  has  not  yet 
offered  any  inducement  equal  to  that  offered  by 
civilian  employers.  The  rate  of  pay  for  the  rank 
and  file  is  still  under  two  shillings  a  day,  with 
lodging  and  partial  board,  for  in  time  of  peace  the 
rations  issued  to  the  soldier  do  not  form  a  com- 
plete allowance  of  food,  and  even  the  messing 
allowance  is  in  many  cases  insufficient  to  provide 
sufficient  meals — the  soldier  has  to  supplement 
both  rations  and  messing  out  of  his  pay.  When  all 
allowances  and  needs  have  been  accounted  for, 
the  amount  of  pay  that  a  private  soldier  can  fairly 
call  his  own,  to  spend  as  he  likes,  is  about  a  shilling 
a  day — and  civilian  employment,  as  a  rule,  offers 
more  than  that.  Moreover,  modern  methods  of 
warfare  call  for  a  more  intelligent  and  better 
educated  man  than  was  the  case  fifty  years  ago  ; 
the  soldier  of  to-day,  as  has  already  been  remarked, 
has  not  only  to  be  able  to  obey,  but  also  to  exercise 
initiative  ;  a  better  class  of  man  is  required,  and 
though  the  factor  of  numbers  is  still  the  greatest 


140  INTERNAL    ECONOMY 

factor  in  any  action  that  may  be  fought  between 
opposing  armies,  the  factor  of  intelligence  and  ele- 
mentary scientific  knowledge  is  one  that  grows  in 
importance  year  by  year.  The  mass  of  recruits,  in 
time  of  peace,  is  drawn  from  among  the  unemployed 
unskilled  labourers  of  the  country  ;  though,  by  the 
rate  of  pay  given,  the  country  effects  a  certain 
saving,  this  is  more  than  balanced  by  the  difficulty 
of  educating  and  training  these  men — to  say 
nothing  of  the  expense  of  it.  A  higher  rate  of  pay 
would  attract  a  better  class  of  man  and  provide  a 
more  intelligent  army,  one  of  greater  value  to  the 
State.  And,  even  assuming  that  the  class  of  man 
obtained  at  present  is  as  good  as  need  be,  still  the 
rate  of  pay  is  insufficient ;  the  work  men  are  called 
on  to  perform,  the  responsibilities  that  are  entailed 
on  them  in  the  course  of  their  work,  deserve  a  higher 
rate  of  pay  than  these  men  obtain  at  present. 

An  illustration  of  this  will  serve  far  better  than 
mere  statement  of  the  fact.  It  is  well  known  that 
for  years  past  there  has  been  some  difficulty  in 
obtaining  a  sufficiency  of  officers  for  cavalry 
regiments,  but  what  is  not  so  well  known  is  that, 
when  a  troop  of  cavalry  is  short  of  a  lieutenant  to 
lead  it  at  drill  and  assume  responsibility  for  its 
working,  the  troop-sergeant  takes  command  and 
control  of  the  troop.    At  the  best,  the  pay  of  the 


INTERNAL   ECONOMY  141 

troop -sergeant  cannot  be  reckoned  at  more  than 
four  shillings  a  day,  and  on  that  amount  of  salary 
— twenty-eight  shillings  a  week — he  is  given  charge 
and  control  of  somewhere  about  thirty  men, 
together  with  he  ses,  saddlery,  and  other  Govern- 
ment property  to  the  value  of  not  less  than  £1800. 
For  the  safety  and  good  order  of  this  amount  of 
propexr^'  he  is  almost  entirely  responsible,  as  well 
as  beiilg  charged  with  the  superintendence,  in- 
struction, and  control  of  the  thirty  men  or  more 
who  comprise  the  troop  under  his  command. 

The  fact  is  that  the  world  has  moved  forward 
tremendously  during  the  past  thirty  or  forty  years, 
while,  except  for  small  and  inadequate  changes  in 
the  rates  of  pay,  the  Army  has  stood  still.  Labour 
conditions  have  altered  in  every  way,  and  the 
cost  of  living  has  increased,  forcing  up  the  wage 
rate.  The  Army  has  taken  note  of  none  of  these 
things,  but  has  gone  on,  as  regards  pay  and 
allowances,  in  the  way  of  forty  years  ago.  The 
necessity  for  an  advertising  campaign  proved  that 
the  old  ways  were  beginning  to  fail,  and  efforts 
were  being  made  to  overcome  the  shortage  of  men 
without  increasing  the  rates  of  pay — vain  efforts, 
if  statistics  of  the  amount  of  recruiting  done  before 
and  after  the  beginning  of  the  advertising  campaign 
count  for  anything. 


142  INTERNAL    ECONOMY 

We  may  leave  these  larger  considerations  to 
come  down  to  a  view  of  the  interior  working  of  a 
unit,  its  pay,  feeding,  and  general  life.  All  arrange- 
ments as  regards  pay  for  infantrymen  are  managed 
by  the  colour-sergeants  of  the  cofnpanies,  while  in 
the  cavalry  and  artillery  the  squadron  or  battery 
quartermaster-sergeants  have  control  of  the  pay- 
sheets.  These  non-commissioned  officers  are 
charged  with  the  business  of  drawing  weekly  the 
amount  of  pay  required  by  their  respective 
companies,  squadrons,  or  batteries,  and  paying  out 
the  same  to  the  men  under  the  supervision  of  the 
company,  squadron,  or  battery  officers.  The 
presence  of  the  officer  at  the  pay-table  is  a  nominal 
business  in  most  cases,  and  the  non-commissioned 
officer  does  all  the  work,  while  in  every  case  he  is 
held  responsible  for  any  errors  that  may  occur. 
Each  man  is  given  a  stated  weekly  rate  of  pay, 
and  at  the  end  of  each  month  there  is  a  general 
settling  up,  at  which  the  accounts  of  each  man  are 
explained  to  him ;  he  is  told  what  debts  he  has 
incurred  to  the  regimental  tailor,  the  bootmaker, 
or  for  new  clothing  that  he  has  been  compelled  to 
purchase  to  make  good  deficiencies  ;  in  every  unit 
each  man  is  charged  two  or  three  pence  a  month — 
and  sometimes  more — by  way  of  barrack  damages, 
which  includes  the  repair  of  broken  windows,  etc., 


INTERNAL    ECONOMY  143 

and  altogether  the  compulsory  stoppages  from  pay 
generally  amount  to  not  less  than  two  shillings 
per  man  per  month. 

The  system  of  pay  is  a  complicated  one.  As  a 
bed-rock  minimum  there  is  a  regular  rate  of  pay 
of  a  shilling  and  a  penny  a  day  for  an  infantryman, 
and  a  penny  or  twopence  a  day  more  for  the  other 
arms  of  the  service.  On  to  this  is  added  the 
messing  allowance  of  threepence  a  day,  which  is 
spent  for  the  men  in  supplementing  their  ration 
allowance  of  food,  and  never  reaches  them  in  coin 
at  all ;  there  is  a  clothing  allowance,  which  goes  to 
defray  the  expense  attendant  on  the  renewal  of 
articles  of  attire  ;  there  is  yet  another  allowance 
for  the  upkeep  of  clothing  and  kit ;  there  is  the 
proficiency  pay  to  which  each  man  becomes 
entitled  after  a  certain  amount  of  service,  and 
which  consists  of  varying  grades  according  to  the 
musketry  standard  and  character  of  the  man  ;  this 
ranges  from  fourpence  to  sixpence  a  day ;  and 
then  there  is  badge  pay,  which  adds  a  penny  or 
twopence  a  day  to  old  soldiers'  pay  so  long  as 
they  behave  themselves.  The  colour-sergeant  or 
quartermaster-sergeant  has  to  keep  account  of  all 
these  small  items,  and  it  is  small  matter  for 
wonder  that  many  a  worried  ojfi&cer  or  non-com., 
puzzling  his  brains  over  the  intricacies  of  a  pay- 


144  INTERNAL   ECONOMY 

sheet,  expresses  an  earnest  wish  that  the  whole 
complicated  system  may  be  swept  away,  and  a 
straightforward  rate  of  pay  for  each  man  substi- 
tuted. 

The  Army  Pay  Corps,  a  non-combatant  branch 
of  the  service,  is  charged  with  the  business  of 
auditing  and  keeping  accounts  straight,  and  this 
corps  forms  the  final  court  of  appeal  for  all  matters 
connected  with  the  pay  of  the  soldier.  The  Royal 
Warrant  for  Pay,  a  bulky  volume  published 
annually,  is  the  manual  by  which  the  Pay  Corps 
is  guided  to  its  decisions,  and  from  which  th( 
harassed  colour-sergeant  or  quartermaster-sergeant 
derives  inspiration  for  his  work. 

In  all  units  serving  at  home,  and  in  most  of 
those  serving  abroad,  a  system  of  messing  is 
established  regimentally  to  supplement  the  ration 
allowance.  Rations  for  the  soldier,  by  the  way, 
consist  in  England  of  one  pound  of  bread  and  three- 
quarters  of  a  pound  of  meat  with  bone  per  day, 
and  all  else  must  be  bought  out  of  pay  and  messing 
allowance.  In  colonial  stations  the  ration  allow- 
ance is  enlarged  to  include  certain  vegetables,  and 
in  India  the  scale  is  still  more  liberal,  but  it  is 
obvious  that  the  English  ration  of  bread  and  meat 
is  not  sufficient  for  the  needs  of  the  soldier,  nor  will 
the  official  messing  allowance  of  threepence  per 


INTERNAL    ECONOMY  145 

day  per  man  altogether  compensate  for  ration 
deficiencies.  Beyond  doubt,  however,  the  pro- 
vision of  necessaries  has  been  brought  to  a  very 
fine  art  in  the  Army,  and,  with  an  efficient  cook- 
sergeant  in  charge  of  the  regimental  cookhouses, 
and  capable  caterers  to  supervise  purchases  for 
the  messing  account,  with  an  allowance  of  four- 
pence  a  day  per  man  the  rank  and  file  can  have  a 
sufficiency  of  plain,  wholesome  food. 

The  sergeant-cook  in  charge  of  the  cookhouses  of 
each  unit  must  have  passed  through  a  course  at  the 
Aldershot  school  of  cookery  before  he  can  undertake 
the  duties  of  his  post,  but  he  is  the  only  trained 
cook  in  each  unit.  Men  are  chosen  as  company 
cooks  or  squadron  cooks  haphazard,  and  often 
with  too  little  regard  to  their  fitness  for  their  posts. 
In  spite  of  all  disadvantages,  though,  the  average 
of  cooking  in  the  Army  is  good,  especially  when 
one  considers  the  unpromising  material  with  which 
the  cooks  have  to  deal.  The  contract  price  for 
Army  meat  is  not  half  that  paid  per  pound  by  the 
civilian  buyers  ;  it  is,  of  course,  all  foreign  meat 
that  is  supplied  in  normal  times. 

While  the  single  men  of  the  Army  draw  their 
meat  supplies  daily,  married  quarters'  rations  are 
drawn  on  stated  days,  and,  as  the  majority  of  the 
occupants  of  the  married  quarters  are  non-com- 


146  INTERNAL    ECONOMY 

missioned  officers  and  their  wives,  it  follows 
naturally  that,  in  getting  their  exact  ration  with 
regard  to  weight,  they  are  given  every  consideration 
with  regard  to  the  quality  of  meat  cut  off  from  the 
lump.  On  married  quarters'  days  the  troops  get  a 
sm^prisingly  small  allowance  of  meat  and  a 
surprisingly  large  allowance  of  bone,  for  the 
regulation  governing  supply  enacts  that  "  three- 
quarters  of  a  pound  of  meat  with  bone  "  shall  be 
allowed  for  each  soldier.  That  "  with  bone  "  may 
mean  that  two-thirds  of  the  allowance  or  more  is 
bone,  though  the  soldier  has  in  this  matter  as  well 
as  in  others  the  right  of  complaint  if  he  considers 
that  he  is  being  subjected  to  injustice  in  any  way. 
The  quality  of  meat  supplied,  and  its  correct 
quantity,  is  supposed  to  constitute  one  of  the  cares 
of  the  orderly  officer  of  the  day,  for  the  orderly 
officer,  together  with  the  quartermaster  or  the 
representative  of  the  latter,  is  supposed  to  attend 
at  the  issue  of  rations  of  both  bread  and  meat. 

In  this  connection  a  word  regarding  the  duties 
of  the  orderly  officer  will  not  be  out  of  place. 
These  duties  are  undertaken  by  the  lieutenants  and 
second  lieutenants  of  each  unit,  who  take  turns  of 
a  day  apiece  as  "  orderly  officer  of  the  day."  It 
has  already  been  remarked  that  an  officer  does  not 
really  begin  to  count  in  the  life  of  a  unit  until  he 


I 


INTERNAL    ECONOMY  147 

has  attained  to  the  rank  of  captain  and  to  the 
experience  gained  by  such  length  of  service  as 
makes  him  ehgible  for  captaincy.  In  no  one  thing 
does  this  fact  become  so  clear  as  the  way  in  which 
the  duty  of  orderly  officer  of  the  day  is  performed 
in  the  majority  of  units.  It  happens  as  a  rule 
that  a  lieutenant  performs  his  turn  of  orderly 
conscientiously  and  well ;  at  times,  however, 
it  happens  that  a  subaltern,  impatient  at  the 
fiddling  duties  involved  in  the  turn  of  orderly, 
regards  complaints  on  the  part  of  the  men  as 
trivial  and  annoying,  neglects  to  see  that  real 
causes  of  grievance  are  properly  remedied,  and 
lays  the  foundations  of  deep  dislike  for  himself  on 
the  part  of  the  men  of  the  unit.  One  of  the  duties 
falling  to  the  orderly  officer  is  that  of  visiting  the 
dining-rooms  of  the  regiment  or  battalion  and 
inquiring  in  each  room  if  the  men  have  any 
complaints  to  make  with  regard  to  the  quality  or 
quantity  of  the  food  supplied.  If  any  complaint 
is  made,  it  should  be  at  once  investigated,  and,  if 
found  justifiable,  remedied. 

But  the  subaltern  doing  orderly  duty  far  too 
often  does  not  know — because  he  has  not  troubled 
to  learn — the  way  to  set  about  remedying  a  just 
complaint ;  a  very  common  form  of  reply  to  a  com- 
plaint by  the  men  is,  "I  will  see  about  it,"  and 


148  INTERNAL    ECONOMY 

that  is  all  that  the  men  ever  hear,  while  they  are 
careful  never  to  make  a  complaint  to  that 
particular  officer  again,  since  they  know  he  is  not 
to  be  depended  on.  The  attitude  of  some  junior 
officers  towards  the  men  making  a  complaint  is 
at  times  one  of  suspicion  ;  the  officer  seems  to 
imagine  that  the  man  is  doing  it  for  amusement, 
and  not  until  he  has  grown  a  little,  and  incident- 
ally passed  out  from  the  rank  in  which  he  takes  his 
turn  as  orderly  officer,  does  he  come  to  understand 
that  men  only  make  complaints  to  their  officers 
about  things  which  are  absolutely  beyond  their 
own  power  to  remedy.  Frivolous  or  unjustifiable 
complaints,  when  proved  to  be  such,  are  very 
heavily  punished,  and  consequently  men  abstain 
as  a  rule  from  making  them. 

The  orderly  officer  is  not  concerned  alone  with 
the  food  of  the  men  ;  he  is  supposed  to  visit  the 
barrack-rooms  and  see  that  everything  is  correct 
there  ;  he  has  to  visit  the  guard  of  his  unit  once 
by  day  and  once  by  night,  and  see  that  the  guard  is 
correct  and  the  articles  in  charge  of  the  guard  are 
complete  according  to  the  inventory  on  the  guard- 
board  ;  he  is  supposed  to  visit  all  the  regimental 
artificers'  establishments  once  during  the  day  to 
see  that  work  is  being  carried  on  properly,  and  he 
is  even  concerned  with  the  quality  and  issue  of 


INTERNAL    ECONOMY  149 

beer  in  the  canteen,  while  at  the  end  of  his  day's 
duty  he  has  to  fill  in  and  sign  a  report  to  the  effect 
that  he  has  performed  all  his  duties  effectively — 
whether  he  has  or  no.  His  work,  correctly  carried 
through,  is  no  sinecure  business. 

Mention  of  the  canteen  takes  us  on  to  another 
point  of  military  economy,  that  of  supplies  of 
varying  kinds  apart  from  the  actual  ration  bread 
and  meat.  In  each  unit  serving  at  home,  a  canteen 
is  established  for  the  supply  to  the  troops  of 
articles  of  the  best  possible  quality  at  the  lowest 
possible  price  "  without  limiting  the  right  of  the 
men  to  purchase  "  in  other  markets,  according  to 
King's  Regulations  on  the  subject.  In  effect,  how- 
ever, the  tenancy  of  a  regimental  canteen  by  a 
contractor  is  a  virtual  monopoly,  and,  unfortu- 
nately for  the  troops  concerned,  the  monopoly 
is  often  made  a  rigid  one.  There  is  a  "  dry  bar," 
or  grocery  establishment,  at  which  men  can 
purchase  cleaning  materials  for  their  kits  and  all 
articles  of  food  that  they  require ;  there  is  a 
"  coffee  bar,"  where  suppers  are  sold  to  the  men 
and  cooked  food  generally  is  sold  ;  and  there  is  the 
"  wet  canteen,"  whose  sales  are  limited  to  beer 
alone,  and  where  the  boozers  of  the  unit  congregate 
nightly  to  drink  and  yarn.  In  old  time  the  wet 
canteen  used  to  be  a  fruitful  source  of  crime — as 


150  INTERNAL    ECONOMY 

crime  goes  in  the  Army — and  general  trouble,  but 
moderation  is  the  rule  of  to-day,  and  excessive 
drinking  is  rare  in  comparison  with  the  ways  of 
twenty  years  or  so  ago.  The  wet  canteen  of  to-day 
is  a  cheerful  place  where  men  get  their  pints  and 
sit  over  them,  forming  "  schools,"  as  the  various 
groups  of  chums  are  called,  and  drinking  not  so 
much  as  they  talk,  for  they  seek  company  rather 
than  alcohol. 

For  the  teetotallers  of  each  unit,  the  society 
known  as  the  Royal  Army  Temperance  Association 
has  established  a  "  room  *'  in  practically  every 
unit  of  the  service  ;  at  a  cost  of  fourpence  a  month 
a  man  is  given  the  freedom  of  this  room,  and  at 
the  same  time  invited  to  sign  the  pledge,  which  he 
generally  does.  In  any  case,  if  an  A.T.A.  man  is 
caught  drinking  to  excess,  he  forfeits  his  member- 
ship of  the  Association  and  the  right  to  use  its 
room.  In  the  room  itself  a  bar  is  set  up  at  which 
all  kinds  of  temperance  drinks  are  sold,  together 
with  buns  and  light  eatables.  In  the  Army,  a  man 
refraining  from  the  use  of  intoxicants  is  said  to  be 
"  on  the  tack,"  and  is  known  as  a  "  tack- wallah." 
Members  of  the  R.A.T.A.  are  designated  "  wad- 
wallahs,"  or  "  bun-scramblers,"  by  the  frequenters 
of  the  canteen,  who  are  known  as  "  canteen- 
wallahs."     The  word  "  wallah  "  is  a  Hindustani 


INTERNAL    ECONOMY  151 

one  which  has  passed  into  currency  in  the  Army, 
its  original  meaning  being  the  follower  of  any 
branch  of  trade  or  employment.  In  the  same  way, 
numbers  of  Hindustani  terms  are  in  general  use ; 
"  roti "  is  almost  invariably  used  in  place  of 
"bread,"  "char"  for  "tea,"  and  "pani"  for 
"  water,"  all  being  correct  Hindustani  equivalents. 
"  Kampti,"  meaning  small,  and  "  bus,"  equivalent 
to  "  enough "  or  "  stop,"  come  from  the  same 
language,  while  "  scoff "  in  place  of  "  eat "  is 
derived  from  South  Africa,  where  it  is  common 
currency  even  among  civilian  white  folks. 

Married  "  on  the  strength  "  in  the  Army  carries 
with  it  a  number  of  advantages  for  the  married 
mian.  It  is  a  little  galling,  in  the  first  place,  to  have 
to  satisfy  one's  commanding  officer  as  to  the 
respectability  of  the  intended  wife  before  marriage, 
but  it  is  not  so  many  years  ago  that  there  was 
good  reason  for  this.  Once  married,  the  soldier  is 
granted  free  quarters  for  himself  and  wife,  and  the 
wife  is  allowed  fuel  and  light  up  to  a  certain 
amount,  together  with  rations,  and  an  additional 
allowance  is  made  in  the  event  of  children  being 
born.  Curiously  enough,  however,  the  size  of  the 
quarters  allotted  to  the  married  men  and  their 
families  is  not  determined  by  the  number  of 
children  in  the  family,  but  by  the  rank  of  the 


152  INTERNAL    ECONOMY 

married  man  ;  not  many  private  soldiers  venture 
to  marry,  for  their  rate  of  pay  is  so  low  as  to  make 
the  experiment  an  extremely  risky  one,  although 
the  wife  of  the  soldier  gets — if  she  wishes  it — 
a  certain  amount  of  the  single  men's  washing 
to  do,  by  way  of  supplementing  her  husband's 
pay. 

Married  "  off  the  strength  "^ — that  is,  without  the 
permission  of  the  officer  commanding  the  unit — is 
doubly  risky,  for  the  wife  of  the  man  who  marries 
thus  gets  no  official  recognition  ;  her  husband  has 
to  occupy  a  place  in  the  barrack-room,  for  no 
separate  quarters  can  be  allotted  to  him  ;  he  has 
at  the  same  time  to  find  lodgings  somewhere  among 
the  civilian  inhabitants  of  the  station  for  his  wife 
— and  children,  if  there  are  any — and,  if  he  is  a 
good  character,  he  may  be  granted  a  sleeping-out 
pass,  which  confers  on  him  the  privilege  of  sleeping 
out  of  barracks — and  this  is  a  privilege  that  he 
must  beg,  not  a  right  that  he  can  claim.  As  the 
married  establishment  of  a  regiment  or  battalion 
is  necessarily  small,  men  frequently  get  married 
"  off  the  strength,"  though  how  they  manage  to 
exist  and  at  the  same  time  provide  for  their  wives 
on  military  pay  is  a  mystery.  The  most  common 
explanation  is  that  the  wife,  whatever  work  she 
has  been  engaged  in  before  her  marriage,  continues 


INTERNAL    ECONOMY  153 

it  after  ;  the  hardest  part  of  the  business  is  that 
neither  wife  nor  husband,  in  these  circumstances, 
can  count  on  the  possession  of  a  home  as  those 
married  "  on  the  strength  "  understand  it. 

The  private  soldier  married  "  on  the  strength  " 
usually  has  entered  on  his  second  period  of  service 
— that  is,  he  has  finished  the  twelve  years  for  which 
he  first  contracted  to  serve,  and  has  re-enlisted  to 
complete  twenty-one  years  with  a  view  to  a  pension. 
Generally  he  manages  to  get  a  staff  job  of  some 
sort,  from  employment  on  the  regimental  police  to 
barrack  sweeper,  or  anything  else  that  will  get  him 
out  of  attending  early  morning  parades  as  a  rule 
■ — though  all  staff  men  have  to  attend  early  parades 
when  the  orders  of  the  day  say  "  strong  as  possible." 
The  rule  in  most  units  is  that  the  staff  jobs  are 
distributed  among  the  older  soldiers,  for  these  are 
supposed,  and  with  justice,  to  be  better  able  to 
dispense  with  perpetual  training  than  the  younger 
men.  As  a  rule,  the  appointment  of  any  young 
soldier  to  a  staff  appointment — except  such  posts 
as  that  of  orderly-room  clerk,  for  which  special 
aptitude  counts  before  length  of  service — is  the 
cause  of  considerable  bitterness  among  the  older 
soldiers  who  are  still  at  duty,  and  is  usually 
attributed  to  rank  favouritism,  whether  it  is  due 
to  that  or  no. 


154  INTERNAL    ECONOMY 

In  cavalry  regiments  especially,  the  ordinary 
duty-men  look  for  amusement  when  the  staff  men 
are  "  dug  out  "  to  undergo  the  ordinary  routine  of 
duty,  either  by  way  of  annual  training  or  on  the 
occasion  of  a  "  strong  as  possible  "  parade.  The 
duty-man  has  his  horse  every  day,  and  horse 
and  man  get  to  know  each  other,  but  the  staff -man, 
attending  stables  only  on  the  occasion  of  his  being 
warned  to  attend  a  duty  parade,  has  as  a  rule  to 
take  any  horse  that  is  "  going  spare,"  as  they  call 
it,  and  usually  the  horse  that  nobody  else  has 
taken  up  for  riding  is  not  a  pleasant  beast. 
And  the  staff-man  may  be  a  bit  rusty  as 
regards  drill  and  riding,  so  that  the  two  things 
combined  produce  the  effect  of  involuntary  dis- 
mounting in  the  field  or  at  riding  school  occasion- 
ally— or,  as  the  soldier  would  say,  "  dismounting 
by  order  from  hind-quarters."  Taken  on  the 
whole,  the  staff -man's  day  at  duty  is  not  a  pleasant 
one,  while,  if  he  ventures  to  complain  to  his 
comrades  or  grumble  in  any  way,  he  gets  more 
ridicule  than  sympathy.  Usually  the  duty-man 
affects  to  consider  the  staff-man  an  encumbrance, 
and  in  the  cavalry  even  signallers,  during  the  time 
that  they  are  excused  riding  and  attending  stables, 
are  told  that  it  is  "  easy  enough  to  wag  a  little  bit 
of  stick   about — why   don't   you   come   down   to 


INTERNAL    ECONOMY  155 

stables  and  do  a  bit  ?  "  The  reply  generally 
makes  up  in  forcibility  for  a  deficiency  in  elegance, 
for  the  trooper  is  capable  of  maintaining  his 
reputation  as  regards  the  use  of  language — of 
sorts. 

A  form  of  staff  employment  which  calls  for  a 
particular  class  of  man  is  the  post  of  officer's 
servant ;  it  amounts  to  the  regular  work  of  a  valet 
for  "  first  servant,"  and  that  of  a  groom  for 
"  second  servant,"  and  is  not  always  an  enviable 
post,  especially  if  the  officer  in  question  is  short- 
tempered  or  "  bad  to  get  on  with."  Officers' 
servants  occupy  quarters  away  from  the  duty- 
men,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the  officers'  mess  in  the 
case  of  single  officers  ;  married  officers'  servants 
are  provided  with  quarters  in  their  masters' 
houses.  In  addition  to  the  officers'  servants,  there 
is  in  each  unit  a  regular  staff  of  mess  waiters  both 
for  officers'  and  sergeants'  messes,  while  all  non- 
commissioned officers  from  the  rank  of  sergeant 
upward  are  permitted  to  employ  a  "  batman " 
from  among  the  men  serving  under  them.  The 
sergeant's  batman,  though,  is  not  excused  from  duty 
as  is  the  officer's  servant,  but  has  to  get  through 
all  his  own  work,  and  then  clean  the  sergeant's 
equipment,  keep  his  bunk  in  order,  groom  his 
horse,  and  clean  his  saddle  (in  cavalry  and  artillery 


156  INTERNAL    ECONOMY 

units),  as  well  as  attend  all  parades  from  which 
the  sergeant  has  no  power  to  excuse  him.  Every 
staff  job  carries  with  it  a  certain  amount  of  extra- 
duty  pay,  and  this,  in  addition  to  the  fact  of  being 
excused  from  at  least  some  of  the  ordinary  parades 
of  the  duty  soldier,  causes  a  post  on  the  staff  to 
be  sought  after  by  most  men.  There  are  some, 
though,  who  prefer  to  be  at  ordinary  duty,  and 
the  man  who  is  going  in  for  promotion  usually 
avoids  staff  employ,  for  the  two  do  not  go 
together. 

Among  non-commissioned  officers  as  well  as 
among  the  rank  and  file  there  is  a  certain  amount 
of  staff  employment,  but  it  is  a  smaller  amount, 
and  a  good  deal  of  it  is  unenviable  business.  The 
post  of  provost-sergeant,  for  instance,  although  it 
carries  extra-duty  pay,  is  naturally  not  a  popular 
business,  for  having  control  of  the  regimental 
police  and  being  responsible  for  the  punishments 
of  delinquents  on  defaulters*  drill  and  punishment 
fatigues  does  not  tend  to  increase  the  popularity 
of  a  non-commissioned  officer.  The  business  of 
postman  in  a  regiment  is  usually  entrusted  to  a 
corporal ;  as  a  rule,  the  oldest  corporal  is  chosen 
to  fill  this  berth,  and  one  just  concluding  his  term 
of  military  service  is  practically  certain  to  get  it 
as  soon  as  it  falls  vacant.    But  staff  jobs  for  non- 


INTERNAL    ECONOMY  157 

corns,  are  far  fewer,  relatively,  than  for  the  rank 
and  file,  and,  outside  the  artificers'  shops,  the 
regimental  orderly  room  and  quartermaster's  store, 
practically  every  non-com.  is  at  duty. 


CHAPTER    X 

THE    NEW   ARMY 

IN  the  course  of  these  pages  the  remark  has 
already  been  made  that  the  British  Army  is 
in  a  state  of  flux  ;  this  is  true  mainly  as  regards 
numbers  and  organisation,  but  with  regard  to 
discipline  and  training  no  very  great  changes  are 
possible.  Methods  of  training  may  alter,  and  do 
alter  for  the  better  from  time  to  time,  but  the 
basic  principles  remain,  since  an  army  can  be 
trained  only  in  one  way  ;  by  the  use  of  strict 
discipline  and  of  means  calculated  to  impart  to 
men  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  instruction 
in  the  shortest  space  of  time.  The  more  quickly 
a  man  absorbs  the  main  points  of  his  training,  the 
better  for  him  and  for  the  army  whose  effective- 
ness he  is  intended  to  increase. 

In  the  new  army  of  to-day,  from  which  it  is 
intended  to  draft  effective  men  into  the  firing 
line  at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  rapidity  of 
training  is  a  prime  essential.  At  the  outset,  owing 
to  the  enormous  numbers  of  men  who  flocked  to 

158 


THE    NEW    ARMY  159 

the  colours,  training  was  no  easy  matter,  and 
for  some  time  to  come  instructors  will  be  scarce 
when  compared  with  the  multitude  of  men  who 
require  training.  In  order  to  combat  this,  in- 
structors have  been  asked  to  re-enlist  from  among 
ex-soldiers  who,  past  fighting  age  themselves,  are 
yet  quite  capable  of  drilling  the  new  men.  A 
minor  drawback  arises  here,  however,  in  that  such 
of  the  instructors  as  left  the  colours  before  a  certain 
date  are  out  of  touch  as  regards  modern  weapons 
and  drill.  For  instance,  the  field  gun  at  present 
in  use  in  the  British  Army  was  not  generally 
adopted  until  after  the  conclusion  of  the  South 
African  campaign  ;  in  the  case  of  the  cavalry, 
again,  important  modifications  have  been  brought 
about  in  drill  and  formations  during  the  last  ten 
years,  while  the  charger  loading  rifle  with  wind 
gauge  is  comparatively  an  innovation  both  as 
regards  cavalry  and  infantry.  It  is  not  intended 
to  imply  that  drill  instructors  who  finished  their 
colour  service  ten  or  twelve  years  ago  are  of  no  use, 
for,  in  the  matters  of  imparting  elementary  drill 
and  the  first  principles  of  discipline  to  the 
recruits,  they  are  invaluable  and  far  too  few.  But, 
in  more  advanced  matters,  it  must  be  conceded 
that  the  sooner  the  new  army  can  instruct  itself 
the  better,  for  the  proverb  about  an  old  dog  and 


160  THE   NEW   ARMY 

new  tricks  may  be  applied  to  re-enlisted  instructors 
and  the  new  army,  which  is  a  whole  bag  of  new 
tricks. 

It  is  essential  that  the  new  army  should  train 
itself  at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  and  for  this 
reason  there  are  endless  opportunities  for  the  man 
with  brains  who  enlists  at  the  present  time.  The 
re-enlisted  drill  instructor  will  not  accompany  the 
men  of  the  new  army  into  the  field,  and,  as  an  army 
increases,  a  relative  increase  must  be  made  in  the 
number  of  its  non-commissioned  officers,  while 
there  are  also  vacancies  by  the  hundred  for  com- 
missioned officers.  For  the  average  man,  how- 
ever, it  is  useless  at  the  present  time  to  depend  on 
influence  and  back-door  methods  for  promotion. 
Worth  is  all  that  will  count,  and  an  ounce  of 
enlistment  to-day  is  worth  a  ton  of  influence  that 
might  have  been  exercised  yesterday.  It  is  as 
true  of  the  new  army  as  of  any  other  profession 
that  there  is  plenty  of  room  at  the  top.  The  way 
to  get  there  is  by  enlistment  to-day  and  hard  and 
patient  application  to  one's  work  for  a  matter  of 
weeks  or  months. 

No  man  can  tell  how  long  the  new  army  will  last, 
or  what  will  be  the  conditions  of  service  and 
strength  of  the  army  after  the  proclamation  of 
peace.    One  thing,  however,  is  certain.    Not  while 


THE   NEW   ARMY  161 

a  first-class  power  remains  on  the  continent  of 
Europe  will  conscription  cease  altogether  between 
the  Urals  and  the  Atlantic,  or  between  Archangel 
and  Brindisi.  It  is  quite  probable  that  when 
peace  comes  again,  universal  conscription  will 
cease,  for  there  will  no  longer  be  an  embodied 
threat  in  central  Europe — the  Powers  will  have 
no  more  of  that,  and  the  burden  of  armaments 
on  the  old  scale  must  cease.  On  the  other  hand, 
however,  nations  will  maintain  sufficient  forces 
to  enable  them  to  insist  on  international  justice  ; 
the  threat  of  the  sword  will  always  form  the  final 
court  of  appeal  from  the  decisions  of  any  arbitra- 
tion body,  and,  while  this  is  so,  a  British  army 
must  always  be  maintained.  The  existence  of 
primal  human  instinct  is  fatal  to  the  idea  of  total 
disarmament ;  war  may  not  come  again,  for  that 
is  a  contingency  with  regard  to  which  none  can 
prophesy,  but  the  fact  remains  that  the  best 
provision  for  peace  is  ample  preparation  against  the 
chances  of  war. 

Thus  the  man  who  looks  for  a  career  out  of  the 
British  Army  need  not  look  in  vain,  for  there  will 
always  be  sufficient  of  an  army,  if  only  for  colonial 
and  foreign  service,  to  furnish  capable  men  with  all 
the  careers  that  they  may  desire.  The  other 
reason  for  enlistment,  less  selfish  and  more  vital. 


162  THE    NEW    ARMY 

has  been  expressed  by  many  voices  and  by  means 
of  many  pens  ;  the  country  has  called,  and  there 
are  ugly  names  for  those  who,  without  sufficient 
claims  of  kin  to  form  cause  for  exemption,  refuse 
to  answer  the  call. 

With  regard  to  the  composition  of  the  new  army 
it  may  be  said  that  the  standing  of  the  men  has 
altered  materially  since  the  outbreak  of  hostilities, 
though  this  is  in  keeping  with  the  trend  of  thought 
and  feeling  that  has  been  evident  since  the  end  of 
the  South  African  campaign.  Up  to  the  end  of 
the  nineteenth  century  there  still  remained  obscure 
provincial  centres  in  which  it  was  supposed  that 
only  wastrels  would  enlist,  with  a  view  to  getting 
an  easy  means  of  livelihood  ;  farther  back,  this 
conception  of  the  Army  was  a  very  common  one. 
It  is  hard  to  say  at  what  period  of  British  history 
such  an  idea  gained  currency,  unless  the  employ- 
ment of  mercenaries  previous  to  the  time  of  the 
French  Revolution  may  have  given  it  birth.  For, 
long  before  Waterloo,  the  British  soldier  gave 
ample  proof  of  the  stuff  of  which  he  is  made,  and 
there  is  not  a  battlefield  of  history  from  which 
there  has  not  come  some  instance  of  self-denial  or 
devotion  to  a  comrade  which  attests  among  the 
ranks  of  the  British  Army  the  existence  of  the 
highest  principles  by  which  humanity  is  actuated. 


THE    NEW    ARMY  163 

But,  up  to  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
civilians  could  not  understand  the  Army.  Kipling 
taught  them  a  little,  but  Kipling's  soldiers  are  all 
hard  drinkers  with  a  tendency  to  the  slaughter  of 
aspirates,  and  various  other  linguistic  eccentri- 
cities. As  character  studies,  Kipling's  soldiers  are 
masterly  works,  but  they  bear  little  relation  to 
the  soldier  of  to-day,  who,  even  as  an  infantryman, 
is  required  to  be  an  educated  man  in  certain 
directions,  since  he  lives  in  a  welter  of  wind  gauges 
and  trajectory,  decimal  points  and  mathematical 
calculations  with  regard  to  the  accomplishment  of 
his  duties.  The  public  as  a  whole  has  been 
waking  up  to  these  facts  slowly — very  slowly — but 
it  has  taken  the  world-catastrophe  of  a  general 
European  war  to  shake  the  public  entirely  from 
its  apathy,  and  cause  it  to  realise  that  the  Army 
is  an  agglomeration  of  men  in  the  highest  sense  of 
that  little  three-lettered  word.  There  is  to-day 
among  all  ranks  and  classes  a  realisation  of  the 
good  that  is,  and  always  has  been  in  the  Army  ; 
there  is  a  new  interest  in  soldiers,  in  military 
movements,  and  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  theory 
and  practice  of  war,  and  this  augurs  well  for  the 
future  of  members  of  the  new  army,  both  on  duty 
and  among  their  friends.  Counting  from  the  day 
that  the  nation  wakened  to  the  good  that  is  in  the 


164  THE    NEW    ARMY 

Army,  and  the  possibility  of  soldiers  being  at  root 
like  other  men,  military  uniform  has  become  a 
matter  for  pride  to  its  wearer,  and  respect  from 
those  who  from  any  cause  are  unable  to  assume 
the  uniform.  As  this  war  has  knit  together 
motherland  and  colonies,  so,  by  means  of  this  war, 
the  soldier  has  come  to  his  own.  The  new  army 
is  not  a  thing  apart  from  the  nation  :  it  is  the 
nation. 

The  new  army  means  an  increase  not  in  numbers 
alone,  for  we  may  accept  as  a  principle  that  the 
best  will  rule  in  a  mass  composed  of  all  sorts  from 
best  to  worst — that  is,  if  we  grant  relative  equality 
in  the  numbers  of  best  and  worst,  and  of  each 
intervening  grade.  Periods  of  commercial  pros- 
perity have  left  the  Army  dependent  mainly  on 
the  unemployed  for  its  recruits,  with  a  corre- 
sponding loss  in  education  and  moral  tone,  but  the 
new  army  is  composed  of  men  of  all  grades, 
actuated  for  the  most  part  by  the  highest  possible 
impulses,  and  asking  only  to  be  allowed  to  give 
of  their  best.  Enlisting  in  this  spirit,  it  is  in- 
evitable that  these  men  should  look  upward,  and 
thus  the  best  will  rule.  For  purposes  of  rule  the 
Army  needs  the  very  best,  for  its  own  sake  and 
that  of  the  future  of  the  nation's  manhood.  In 
gaining  the  best  and  their  influence,  the  Army  will 


THE    NEW    ARMY  165 

increase  in  social  standing  and  moral  tone  as  well 
as  in  numbers. 

No  man  comes  out  from  the  Army  as  he  went  in ; 
there  are  many  types,  and  with  the  enormous 
increase  in  numbers  at  the  present  time,  the 
number  of  types  will  increase  as  well  as  the  number 
of  representatives  of  each  type.  Country  youths, 
town  dwellers,  agricultural  labourers — who  often 
make  the  best  and  keenest  soldiers — men  who  know 
nothing  of  what  labour  is  like,  skilled  artisans, 
and  men  from  the  office — all  come  to  the  ranks  of 
the  Army,  which,  shaping  them  to  compliance 
with  discipline,  still  leaves  the  stamp  of  individu- 
ality. The  soldiers  of  the  new  army  will  come 
back  to  their  ordinary  avocations  bearing  the 
stamp  of  military  training,  stronger  physically, 
and  different  in  many  ways — mainly  improved 
ways.  But  the  metal  on  which  the  stamp  of  the 
Army  is  impressed  will  remain  the  same,  for  one 
is  first  a  man  and  then  a  soldier.  The  instances  of 
Prussian  brutality  evident  to-day,  and  an  eternal 
disgrace  to  the  German  nation,  do  not  prove 
anything  against  the  Prussian  military  system, 
but  afford  evidence  that  brutality  is  ingrained  in 
the  Prussian  before  he  goes  up  as  a  conscript  to 
begin  his  training.  So,  whatever  the  characteris- 
tics of  a  man  may  be,  the  Army  cannot  make  a 


166  THE    NEW    ARMY 

brave  soldier  out  of  a  cowardly  civilian,  and  it 
cannot  make  a  good  man  into  a  bad  one  ;  it 
accentuates  certain  traits  of  character  and  drives 
others  into  the  background,  but  it  neither  destroys 
nor  creates.  It  is  a  training  school  which,  taken 
in  the  right  way,  brings  out  all  that  is  best  in  a 
man,  stiffens  him  to  face  the  battle  of  life  as  well 
as  the  battles  of  military  service,  and  strengthens 
self-confidence  and  self-respect.  The  men  who 
are  seen  to  have  suffered  in  character  during  their 
military  training  are  by  no  means  examples  from 
which  one  can  cite  the  result  of  discipline  and 
army  work,  for  it  is  not  the  training  that  is  at 
fault,  but  the  inherent  weakness  of  the  men  them- 
selves. The  social  standing  of  the  majority  of 
recruits  joining  the  new  army  renders  it  ten  times 
more  true  of  the  Army  of  to-day  than  of  the  Army 
of  yesterday,  that  military  training  gives  more 
than  it  demands,  inculcates  habits  which,  followed 
in  after  life,  are  invaluable,  and  makes  a  man — in 
the  best  sense  of  the  word — of  each  one  who  joins 
its  ranks. 

One  thing  that  officers  and  men  alike  in  the  new 
army  should  be  made  to  realise  is  that  the  pos- 
session of  a  good  kit  carries  one  half  of  the  way 
on  active  service — the  things  that  carry  the  other 
half  of  the  way  are  not  to  be  purchased.    But  the 


THE    NEW    ARMY  167 

man  who  has  undergone  the  rigours  of  active 
service  understands  the  value  of  good  boots,  good 
field-glasses,  well-fitting  and  suitable  clothing, 
and  really  portable  accessories  to  personal  com- 
fort. These  things,  and  an  intelligent  choice  of 
them,  go  far  to  make  up  the  difference  between  the 
man  successful  at  his  work  and  the  failure,  for 
although  a  bad  workman  is  said  to  quarrel  with 
his  tools  a  good  workman  cannot  do  good  work 
with  bad  tools.  In  the  peculiarly  exacting  con- 
ditions entailed  on  men  by  active  service,  kit  and 
equipment  should  be  of  the  best  quality  obtainable, 
and  the  choice  of  what  to  take  and  what  to  leave 
behind  is  evidence,  to  some  extent,  of  the  fitness  of 
the  man  for  his  work.  The  most  important  item 
of  all  is  boots,  and  in  fitting  boots  for  active  service 
one  should  be  careful  to  select  a  size  that  will 
admit  of  the  wearer  enjoying  a  night's  sleep  without 
removing  his  footwear.  Care  of  the  feet,  and 
retention  of  the  ability  to  march,  are  quite  as 
important  as  shooting  abilities,  for  the  man  who 
cannot  march  with  the  rest  will  not  be  in  it  when 
the  shooting  begins.  For  the  rest,  it  is  wise  to 
try,  if  not  to  follow,  as  often  as  possible  the  tips 
given,  by  men  who  have  been  on  active  service, 
with  regard  to  the  choice  of  kit  and  the  little 
things  that  make  for  comfort — that  is,  as  far  as 


168  THE    NEW    ARMY 

compliance  with  these  "  tips  "  is  compatible  with 
keeping  the  size  of  one's  outfit  down.  The  seasoned 
man,  when  talking  of  such  subjects  as  kit  and 
comfort,  usually  speaks  out  of  his  own  experience, 
and  his  advice  is  worth  following.  The  golden 
rule  in  the  choice  of  an  oufit  for  service  is  simply 
"  as  little  as  possible,  and  that  little  good." 

This  rule,  by  the  way,  used  to  be  applied  to  the 
British  Army  in  another  way  :  the  new  army, 
however,  makes  a  difference  in  the  matter  of  size. 


CHAPTER    XI 

ACTIVE   SEKVICE 

rilHE  popular  conception  of  active  service  is  of 
J-  a  succession  of  encounters  with  the  enemy. 
Desperate  deeds  of  valour,  brilliant  charges  by- 
bodies  of  troops,  men  saving  other  men  under  fire, 
the  storming  of  positions,  and  the  flush  of  victory 
after  strenuous  action  enter  largely  into  the 
civilian  conception  of  war. 

The  reality  is  a  sombre  business  of  marching 
and  watching,  nights  without  sleep  and  days 
without  food  ;  retracing  one's  steps  in  order  to 
execute  the  plan  of  the  brain  to  which  a  man  is 
but  one  effective  rifle  out  of  many  thousands, 
marching  for  days  and  days,  seeing  nothing  more 
exciting  than  a  burnt-out  house  and  the  marching 
men  on  either  side  and  to  front  and  rear — and  then 
the  contact  with  the  enemy.  A  vicious  crack  from 
somewhere,  or  the  solid  boom  of  a  piece  of  artillery  ; 
somewhere  away  to  the  front  or  flank  is  the  enemy, 
and  his  pieces  do  damage  in  the  ranks  ;  there  is  a 
searching  for  cover,  some  orders  are  given,  perhaps 

169 


170  ACTIVE    SERVICE 

a  comrade  lies  utterly  still,  and  one  knows  that 
that  man  will  not  move  any  more  ;  there  is  a 
desperate  sense  of  ineffectiveness,  of  anger  at  this 
cowardly  (as  it  seems)  trick  of  hitting  when  one 
cannot  hit  back.  There  is  the  satisfaction  of 
getting  the  range  and  firing,  with  results  that  may 
be  guessed  but  cannot  be  known  accurately  by 
the  man  who  fires  ;  there  is  the  curious  thrill  that 
comes  when  an  angrily  singing  bullet  passes  near, 
and  one  realises  that  one  is  under  fire  from  the 
enemy.  In  a  normal  action,  there  is  the  sense  of 
disaster,  even  of  defeat  when  one's  side  may  in 
reality  be  winning,  for  one  sees  men  dying, 
wounded,  lying  dead — one  knows  the  damage  the 
enemy  has  inflicted,  but  has  no  idea  of  the  damage 
one's  own  force  has  inflicted  in  return.  Often, 
when  it  begins  to  be  apparent  that  the  enemy  is 
nearly  beaten,  there  comes  the  order  to  retire  ; 
one  does  not  understand  the  order,  but,  with  a 
sullen  sense  of  resentment  at  it,  retires,  ducking 
at  the  whizzing  of  a  shell,  though  not  all  the 
ducking  in  the  world  would  avail  if  the  shell  were 
truly  aimed  at  the  one  who  ducks,  or  starting 
back  to  avoid  a  bullet  that  whizzed  by — as  if  by 
starting  back  one  could  get  out  of  the  way  of  a 
bullet  ! 

After  a  day  of  action,  or  after  the  chance  has 


ACTIVE    SERVICE  171 

come  to  rest  for  a  while  after  days  of  action,  one 
gets  a  sense  of  the  horror  of  the  whole  business — 
the  tragedy  of  lives  laid  down,  in  a  good  cause 
certainly,  but  the  men  are  dead,  and  one  questions 
almost  with  despair  if  it  is  worth  while.  So  many 
good  men  with  whom  one  has  joked  and  worked  and 
played  in  time  of  peace  have  gone  under — and  there 
are  probably  more  battles  yet  to  fight.  It  is  not  until 
a  war  has  concluded,  and  men  who  have  served 
are  able  to  get  some  idea  of  the  operations  as  a 
whole,  that  they  are  able  to  understand  what  has 
been  done  and  why  it  has  been  done.  Men  who 
came  back  wounded  from  Mons  and  Charleroi, 
away  from  the  magnificent  three  weeks'  retreat 
that  was  then  in  progress  for  the  British  and 
French  armies,  were,  in  many  cases,  fully  con- 
vinced that  they  had  been  defeated — that  their 
armies  were  beaten,  and  had  to  retreat  to  save 
themselves  from  destruction.  The  man  in  the 
ranks  cannot  understand  the  plan  of  the  staff  who 
control  him,  for  he  sees  so  very  little  of  the  whole  ; 
at  the  most,  he  knows  what  is  happening  to  a 
division  of  men,  while  engaged  in  the  retreat  to 
the  position  of  the  Marne  were,  at  the  least,  twenty 
divisions  on  the  side  of  the  Allies.  Had  one  of  these 
been  utterly  shattered  in  a  set  battle,  the  other 
nineteen  might  still  have  won  a  decisive  victory, 


172  ACTIVE    SERVICE 

and,  if  news  of  that  victory  had  not  come  through 
for  a  day  or  two,  the  survivors  from  the  shattered 
division  would  have  spread  tidings  of  a  defeat — 
which  it  would  have  been,  to  them.  The  man  in 
the  ranks  sees  so  little  of  the  whole. 

Here  the  war  correspondent  makes  the  most 
egregious  mistakes,  for,  untrained  in  military 
service  himself,  he  takes  the  word  of  the  man  in  the 
ranks — ^the  man  on  the  staff  of  army  headquarters 
is  far  too  busy  and  far  too  discreet  to  talk  to  war 
correspondents — and  out  of  what  the  man  in  the 
ranks  has  to  say  the  war  correspondent  makes  up 
his  story.  Though  the  man  in  the  ranks  may 
believe  his  own  story  to  be  true,  though  he  may 
tell  of  the  operations  as  he  conceives  them,  he  may 
be  giving  an  utterly  false  impression  of  what  is 
actually  happening.  The  man  in  the  ranks  is  one 
cog  in  a  machine,  and  he  cannot  tell  what  all  the 
machine  is  doing  at  any  time,  least  of  all  when  a 
battle  is  in  progress. 

Every  battle  fought  differs  from  all  other  battles, 
for  no  opposing  forces  ever  meet  under  precisely 
identical  conditions  twice.  Thus  it  is  useless  to 
speak  of  a  typical  battle  except  in  the  broadest 
general  sense,  and  useless  to  attempt  to  describe 
a  typical  battle,  or  action  of  any  kind.  Usually, 
the  artillery  get  into  action  after  cavalry  have 


ACTIVE    SERVICE  173 

reconnoitred  the  enemy's  position  ;  the  guns  shell 
the  enemy  until  he  is  considered  sufficiently 
weakened  to  permit  of  infantry  attack,  and  then 
the  infantry  go  forward,  even  up  to  the  rarely 
occurring  bayonet  charge.  If  their  advance 
dislodges  the  enemy,  the  cavalry  are  set  on  to  turn 
retreat  into  rout ;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
attacking  force  is  compelled  to  retire,  the  cavalry 
cover  the  retreat,  and,  in  order  to  make  good  in  a 
retreat,  a  part  of  a  force  is  taken  back  while  the 
remainder  hold  the  enemy  in  check.  In  modern 
actions,  artillery  fire  their  shells  over  the  heads 
of  their  own  infantry  at  the  enemy,  distance  and 
trajectory  permitting  of  this.  By  trajectory  is 
meant  the  curve  that  a  projectile  describes  in  its 
flight  ;  both  rifles  and  big  guns  are  so  constructed 
and  sighted  that  they  throw  their  projectiles 
upward  to  counteract  the  pull  of  gravity,  and  the 
missile  eventually  drops  down  toward  its  object — 
it  does  not  travel  in  a  perfectly  straight  line.  But 
it  is  bad  for  infantry  to  be  in  front  of  their  own 
guns,  with  their  own  artillery  shells  passing  over 
them,  for  too  long — moral  suffers  from  this  after 
a  time,  since  a  man  cannot  distinguish  in  such  a 
case  between  his  own  artillery's  shells  and  those 
of  the  enemy.  Whenever  possible,  the  artillery  in 
rear  of  an  infantry  force  are  posted  slightly  to 


174  ACTIVE    SERVICE 

either    flank ;     circumstances,    however,    do    not 
always  admit  of  this. 

On  mobiUsation  for  active  service,  the  first 
thing  that  happens  in  the  British  Army  is  the 
calUng  up  of  the  reserves.  All  men  enlist,  in  the 
first  case,  for  a  certain  number  of  years  with  the 
colours  and  a  further  period  "  on  the  reserve."  In 
this  latter  force,  they  are  free  to  follow  any  civilian 
avocation,  but  on  mobilisation  must  immediately 
report  themselves  at  headquarters — wherever  their 
headquarters  maybe — and  take  the  place  appointed 
to  them  in  the  mobilised  army.  Then  comes  the 
business  of  drawing  war  kit  and  equipment  from 
stores.  As  a  battleship  clears  for  action,  so  the 
Army  rids  itself  for  the  time  of  all  things  not 
absolutely  necessary  on  active  service,  exchanges 
blank  ammunition  for  ball,  sharpens  swords  and 
bayonets,  and  in  every  way  prepares  for  stern 
business.  Each  man  is  issued  with  a  little 
aluminium  plate  which  he  is  compelled  to  wear, 
and  on  which  are  inscribed  such  particulars  as  his 
name,  regimental  number,  unit,  etc.,  so  that  in 
case  of  his  being  killed  on  the  field  he  can  be 
identified  and  the  news  of  his  death  transmitted 
to  his  next  of  kin.  Each  man,  too,  is  issued  with 
an  "  emergency  ration,"  which  is  a  compressed 
supply  of  food  amply  sufficient  for  one  day's  meals. 


ACTIVE    SERVICE  175 

so  that  in  any  tight  corner,  where  provisions  are 
not  obtainable,  he  may  be  able  to  hold  out  for  at 
least  one  day  without  being  reduced  to  starvation. 
The  opening  and  use  of  this  ration,  except  by 
permission  of  an  officer,  counts  as  a  crime  in  the 
Army,  unless  a  man  is  placed  in  such  a  position 
that  no  officer  is  at  hand  to  sanction  the  opening 
of  the  package,  when  the  matter  is  perforce  left 
to  the  man's  discretion. 

Marching  on  service  is  a  different  matter  from 
marching  in  time  of  peace.  Not  only  is  there  the 
strain  of  ever-possible  attack,  but  there  is  also, 
for  cavalry  and  infantry,  the  weight  of  service 
armament  and  equipment  to  be  considered.  Every 
man  carries  in  his  bandoliers  150  rounds  of  am- 
mimition  for  his  rifle — not  a  bit  too  much,  when 
the  rate  of  fire  possible  with  the  modern  rifle  is 
taken  into  account.  But  150  rounds  of  ball 
cartridge  is  a  serious  matter  when  one  has  to  carry 
it  throughout  the  day,  and,  when  active  service 
opens,  it  is  easy  to  understand  why  only  really  fit 
men  are  passed  by  doctors  into  the  Army.  So  far 
as  the  rank  and  file  are  concerned,  it  is  power  to 
endure  that  makes  the  soldier  on  active  service  ; 
bravery  is  needed,  initiative  is  needed,  but  staying 
power  is  needed  most  of  all. 

There  may  be  days  of  solid  marching  without 


176  ACTIVE    SERVICE 

a  sight  of  the  enemy.  One  may  form  part  of  a 
flanking  force  whose  business  is  to  march  from 
point  to  point,  fighting  but  seldom,  but  always 
presenting  a  threat  to  the  enemy  or  his  lines  of 
communication,  and  thus  ever  on  the  move,  with 
very  little  time  for  sleep  or  eating ;  again,  one  may 
be  placed  with  a  force  which  has  to  march  half 
a  day  to  come  in  contact  with  the  enemy,  and  to 
fight  the  other  half  of  the  day  ;  or  yet  again,  it  may 
be  necessary  to  march  all  night  in  order  to  take  a 
position — or  be  shot  in  the  attempt — at  dawn.  In 
time  of  peace  and  on  manoeuvres,  officers  take  care 
that  compensating  time  is  allowed  to  men,  so  as 
to  give  them  the  normal  amount  of  rest  ;  on 
active  service,  the  officer  commanding  a  force 
spares  his  men  as  much  as  he  can,  and  gives  them 
all  the  rest  possible,  but  he  has  to  be  guided  by 
circumstances,  or  to  rise  superior  to  circumstances 
and  cause  himself  and  his  men  to  undergo  far 
more  than  normal  exertions.  War,  as  carried  out 
to-day,  requires  all  that  every  man  has  to  give  in 
the  way  of  staying  power,  and  now,  as  in  the  days 
of  the  battle-axe  and  long-bow,  physical  endurance 
is  the  greatest  asset  a  man  can  have  on  active 
service.  The  hard  drinker  in  time  of  peace  and 
the  man  who  has  been  looking  for  "  soft  jobs  "  all 
the  time  of  his  peace  service  soon  "  go  sick  '*  and 


ACTIVE    SERVICE  177 

become  ineffective ;  they  may  be  just  as  brave 
as  the  rest,  but  they  lack  the  staying  power 
requisite  to  the  carrying  on  of  war. 

Men's  impressions  of  being  under  fire  vary  so 
much  that  every  account  is  of  interest.  "  My 
principal  impression  was  that  I'd  like  to  run  away, 
but  there  was  nowhere  to  run  to,  so  I  stuck  on, 
and  got  used  to  it  after  a  bit."  "I  felt  cold,  and 
horribly  thirsty — I  never  thought  to  be  afraid  till 
afterwards."  "  It  was  interesting,  till  I  saw  the 
man  next  to  me  rolled  over  with  a  bullet  in  his 
head,  and  then  I  wanted  to  get  up  and  go  for  the 
devils  who  had  done  that."  Thus  spoke  three  men 
when  asked  how  they  felt  about  it.  My  own  im- 
pression was  chiefly  a  fear  that  I  was  going  to  be 
afraid — I  did  not  want  to  disgrace  myself,  but  to 
be  as  good  as  the  rest. 

One  man,  who  came  back  wounded  after  the 
day  of  Mons,  described  how  he  felt  at  first  shooting 
a  man  and  knowing  that  his  bullet  had  taken  effect 
— for  in  the  majority  of  cases,  with  a  whole  body 
of  men  firing,  it  is  difficult  to  tell  which  of  the 
bullets  take  effect.  This,  however,  was  a  clear 
case,  and  the  man  could  not  but  know  that  he  was 
responsible  for  the  shot. 

"  I  had  four  men  with  me  on  rear-guard,"  he 
said,  "  and  we  were  holding  the  end  of  a  village 

M 


178  ACTIVE   SERVICE 

street  to  let  our  chaps  get  away  as  far  as  possible 
before  we  mounted  and  caught  up  with  them.  We 
could  see  German  infantry  coming  on,  masses  of 
them,  but  they  couldn't  tell  whether  the  village 
street  held  five  men  or  a  couple  of  squadrons,  so 
they  held  back  a  bit.  At  last  I  could  see  we  were 
in  danger  of  being  outflanked,  so  I  got  my  men 
to  get  mounted,  and  just  as  they  were  doing  so  a 
German  officer  put  his  head  round  the  corner  of 
the  house  at  the  end  of  the  street — not  ten  yards 
away  from  me.  I  raised  my  rifle,  shut  both  eyes, 
and  pulled  the  trigger — it  was  point-blank  range, 
and  when  I  opened  my  eyes  and  looked  it  seemed 
as  if  I'd  blown  half  his  face  away.  I  felt  scared  at 
what  I  had  done — it  seemed  wrong  to  have  shot 
a  man  like  that,  though  he  and  his  kind  drive 
women  and  children  in  front  of  their  firing  lines. 
It  seemed  to  make  such  a  horrible  mess,  somehow. 
I  got  mounted,  and  just  as  I  swung  my  leg  over  the 
horse,  a  fool  of  a  German  infantryman  aimed  a 
blow  at  me  with  the  butt  end  of  his  rifle — I  don't 
know  where  he  sprung  from — ^and  damaged  my 
arm  like  this.  If  he'd  had  the  sense  he  could  have 
run  me  through  with  a  bayonet  or  shot  me,  but  I 
suppose  he  was  too  flurried.  But  that  officer's 
face  after  I'd  shot  him  stuck  to  me,  and  I  still 
dream  of  it,  and  shall  for  some  time,  probably." 


ACTIVE   SERVICE  179 

He  who  told  this  story  is  a  boy  of  twenty-two  or 
three,  and  he  has  gone  back  to  the  front  to  rejoin 
his  regiment,  now — with  three  stripes  on  his  arm, 
instead  of  the  two  that  were  his  at  the  beginning 
of  the  campaign. 

On  forced  marches,  and  often  on  normal  marches 
as  well,  all  the  things  that  one  considers  necessities 
— ^with  the  exception  of  sufficient  food  to  keep  one 
in  condition — go  by  the  board.  One  sleeps  under 
the  stars,  with  no  other  covering  than  a  coat  and 
blanket ;  one  lies  out  to  sleep  in  pouring  rain, 
with  no  more  covering  ;  tents  are  out  of  the 
question,  for  there  is  no  time  to  pitch  and  strike 
them.  One  goes  for  days  without  a  wash,  and  for 
days,  too,  without  undressing.  There  were  two 
scamps  in  the  South  African  campaign  who 
promised  each  other,  for  some  mysterious  reason, 
that  they  would  not  take  their  boots  off  for  a 
month,  and  they  ran  into  such  a  series  of  marches 
and  actions  that,  even  if  they  had  not  made  the 
compact,  they  would  only  have  been  able  to  remove 
their  boots  three  times  in  the  course  of  that  month. 
The  smart  soldier  of  peace  service  goes  unshaven, 
unwashed,  careless  of  all  except  getting  enough  of 
food  and  sleep  at  times ;  and  when  a  lull  comes  in 
the  operations,  so  that  he  gets  a  day  or  even  an 
hour  or  two  to  himself,  a  bath  is  a  luxury  un- 


180  ACTIVE   SERVICE 

dreamed  of  by  the  man  who  can  have  one  every 
morning  and  consider  it  a  mere  usual  thing. 

If  in  time  of  peace  the  soldier  considers  a  rifle 
carelessly,  and  even  resents  having  to  carry  it 
about  with  him,  he  looks  on  it  differently  on 
service,  knowing  as  he  does  that  his  life  may 
depend  on  the  quality  of  the  weapon  and  his 
ability  to  use  it  at  almost  any  minute  of  the  day 
or  night.  The  confirmed  "  grouser  "  of  peace  time, 
who  will  make  a  fuss  over  having  to  put  twenty 
rounds  of  blank  ammunition  in  his  bandolier  to  go 
out  on  a  field-day,  will  swing  his  three  bandoliers 
of  ball  cartridges  on  to  his  person  without  a  word 
of  complaint,  for  he  knows  that  he  may  need  every 
round.  Values  alter  amazingly  on  service  ;  the 
man  with  a  box  of  matches,  when  one  has  been 
away  from  the  base  for  a  few  days,  is  a  person  of 
importance,  and  a  mere  cigarette  is  worth  far 
more  than  its  weight  in  gold.  In  General  Rundle's 
column  during  the  South  African  war,  half  a 
biscuit  was  something  to  fight  for,  and  the  men 
who  thought  it  such  had  many  a  time  thrown 
away  the  same  sort  of  unpalatable  biscuits  and 
bought  bread  to  eat  instead.  An  ant-heap  acquired 
a  new  significance,  for  it  might  be  the  means  of 
saving  a  man's  life  at  any  time,  and  among  mounted 
men  a  ''  fresh  "  horse,  which  might  give  its  rider 


ACTIVE   SERVICE  181 

some  trouble  at  the  time  of  mounting,  was  no 
longer  to  be  avoided,  for  by  its  freshness  it  showed 
that  it  had  plenty  of  spirit  and  go  about  it,  spirit 
that  might  take  a  man  out  of  rifle  range  at  a 
critical  moment,  when  the  slower  class  of  mount 
might  come  out  of  action  without  its  rider. 

This  reversal  of  the  circumstances  of  ordinary 
life  produces  lasting  effect  on  men  ;  no  man  who 
has  undergone  the  realities  of  active  service  comes 
back  to  the  average  of  life  unchanged.  The 
difference  in  him  may  not  be  apparent  at  a  casual 
glance,  but  it  is  there,  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  He 
has  looked  on  death  at  close  quarters,  and,  what- 
ever his  intelligence  may  be — whether  he  be  gutter- 
snipe or  'Varsity  man,  sage  or  fool — ^he  has  a 
clearer  realisation  of  the  ultimate  values  of  things. 
One  may  count  the  Army  in  peace  time  as  a  great 
training  school  out  of  which  men  come  moulded 
to  a  definite  pattern,  and  yet  retaining  their 
individuality.  But  active  service  is  a  fire  through 
which  men  pass,  emerging  on  the  far  side  purified  of 
little  aims  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  according 
to  the  material  on  which  the  fire  has  to  work.  For 
many — all  honour  to  them  and  to  those  who  mourn 
their  loss — it  is  a  destroying  fire. 

So  far  as  the  limits  of  space  will  permit,  there 
is  set  down  in  these  pages  a  record  of  what  military 


182  ACTIVE   SERVICE 

service  amounts  to  for  the  rank  and  file,  in  peace 
and  war.  It  is  necessarily  incomplete,  for  the 
story  of  the  British  Army  of  to-day,  apart  from  its 
history  of  great  yesterdays,  is  not  to  be  told  in 
any  one  book — ^there  is  too  much  of  it  for  that. 
There  are  those  who  belittle  the  Army  and  its  ways 
and  influence  on  the  men  who  serve,  but  one  who 
has  served,  with  the  perspective  of  time  to  give 
him  clearness  of  vision,  can  always  look  back  on 
the  Army  and  be  glad  that  he  has  learned  its 
lessons,  accomplished  its  tasks ;  the  men  who 
would  belittle  it  are  themselves  very  little  men, 
too  little  to  be  worthy  of  serious  notice.  The 
British  Army  is  a  gathering  of  brave  men,  fighting 
in  this  year  of  grace  1914  in  a  noble  cause,  and 
fighting,  as  the  British  Army  has  always  fought, 
bravely  and  well. 


WII.LIAM    BRBNOON    AND    SO^,    LTD. 
FRiNTKRS,    PLYMOUTH 


GENERAL  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA— BERKELEY 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or  on  the 

date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subiect  tgimmediate recall. 


J  juV 


MAY  1  71955  LO 


^^      m    ?1S676p 


•    4  ic-$ij 

LOAM  i»^it"T 

LD  21-100m-l,'54(1887sl6)476 


PM 


NOV  1 3  2001 


V 


B  04113 


301551 


\/r 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAI.IFORNIA  lylBRARY 


